Surprise, Surprise!
by hazelle
Summary: Movieverse. Turning it into a really long story! Peter finally grows a backbone and gives Jameson the talking to of his life... but is he prepared to face the consequences of his actions? Some PeterMJ. FINISHED!
1. The Incident

**Hi! Back with a new story! I've always wanted to see Jameson get told what's what, so here it is! Again, I aplogise for any mistakes with the geography of NYC, please tell me if I get anything wrong, and I probably will, lol. This is a one-shot for now, I may continue it but that depends if you guys want me to and if I can get rid of my writer's block. Damn that block. Anyways, please read and review!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

Jameson returned his gaze to the window after glancing back at the wall where he'd strung his trophy. Spider-man was gone, and along with him the only chance of getting his son's fiancé home safe and sound. He heaved a great sigh and turned at the sound of his editor in chief's voice.

"Still no word on the whereabouts of your son's fiancé. Sorry, Jonah." Robbie, half heartedly threw the cell phone in his hands to land on the desk with a clatter, scattering several papers in the process. Neither bothered to pick them up.

Jonah sighed again. It was what he'd been expecting, since receiving a phone call an hour ago informing him that 'Doc Ock' had destroyed a deli downtown, injured several people including his photographer, and kidnapped Mary Jane Watson. Police had been searching the entire city for just a trace of them, but had come up with nothing. Nothing. Jonah knew as well as anyone else that the only person that would have a chance in Hell of stopping Doc Ock was Spider-man, and Spider-man was gone, because Jonah had driven him away.

He had personally signed his daughter-in-law's death warrant.

Robbie frowned at Jonah's slumped back. "Jonah..." he laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It's all my fault" he interrupted gruffly. He took a long drag on his cigar. "I'm responsible" he continued, "I'm the one that drove Spider-man away".

"And he was the only one who could have defeated Doc Ock", Hoffman stuck his head in the door and drove the stake home.

Jameson rolled his eyes. Apparently he was having difficulty in shelving his pride completely. "Yes" he said begrudgingly, before turning and directing a glare at Hoffman that sent him running for cover. Then he returned his gaze to the mask mounted on the wall, it's piercing white eyepieces reminding him of his guilt. He tilted his head and squinted, as if that would somehow make the costume real and living, but it remained a piece of red and blue fabric, tacked to the wall. He thought it looked kind of small, not at all the right size for the majestic Spider-man who always seemed so big and imposing in the pictures. He wondered where he was now.

"Sir?"

He jumped and span round, to see Betty and Robbie staring at him in amusement. He cleared his throat and gathered the remaining tatters of his composure.

"What?" he said gruffly, and strode past them to flick his cigar out the window.

"Your wife is-" Betty paused for a split second before crying, "-Spider-man!"

"Huh?" Robbie said as Jameson frowned at Betty. She was staring past him, up at the ceiling with her jaw hanging open.

Jonah and Robbie turned as one to fix their gazes on none other than Peter Parker, employee and apparently also Spider-man, since he was sitting on the ceiling. He was frozen in a position of surprise, eyes wide and mouth open slightly, and for a minute they all just stared at each other before Peter shook himself and jumped off the ceiling to land in a classic Spider-man crouch a few feet below. Three pairs of eyes followed his movements without blinking.

"Hi" he said awkwardly, standing and brushing off some of the dust he was covered in and they noticed he was injured, a thin bleeding cut was traced into his neck and jaw, in the exact shape of Doc Ock's tentacles.

Still, no one spoke, no one moved, no one did anything. Peter looked to Robbie to recover the situation, but found he was staring anxiously at Jonah. Weird, it was as if he'd known all along. Betty was frozen in a silent scream, mouth forming a perfect round '0', and Jameson, well Jameson looked as white as a ghost.

"Well" he said conversationally. "I just came by to pick up some stuff and I'll be on my way". He headed over to the costume pinned to the wall.

"What are you doing with that?" Jameson finally found his voice.

"Taking it" Peter answered promptly, not sparing him a glance as he pulled the pins out the wall. "Ya see, it was kinda mine in the first place. Plus I need it to go save Mary Jane and the rest of the city from a fusion reaction and a megalomaniac with a split personality complex and too many arms", he reeled off then glanced back to see Jameson was now turning a nasty shade of puce.

"You know where they are?" Betty finally spoke up. She was leaning heavily against the desk and staring at him with wide eyes.

"Yes" he replied shortly.

"Where?" Robbie asked curiously. Peter hesitated. He didn't anyone to get hurt, but then again the police could cordon off the area so no civilians would come to harm...

"Lower West Side clock tower" he replied after a while. "You think you could get some police down there? I'm gonna need all the help I can get..."

Betty nodded and reached for the phone. "NYPD? Yes, this is Betty Brant, from the Daily Bugle. I just received..." she glanced at Peter pulling his costume down from the wall. "... an anonymous tip that Doctor Octavius is holding a woman hostage at the Lower West Side clock tower, yes that's right... thank you".

She put the phone back in it's cradle with a click and turned to Peter who was watching her anxiously.

"They're sending a unit now" she told him and he nodded to her. He made as if to head in the general direction of the window but Jonah stepped in his path. He jabbed a finger in his face. "You're not going _anywhere_ Parker! You've got a lot of explaining to do and I smell an expose just _dying_ to be-!"

Peter cut him off. "Do you want me to save your daughter-in-law or not?" he said frankly, and Jameson's mouth worked soundlessly for a while. Peter Parker had never spoken back to him.

"The police-" Jameson began.

"-_won't do a thing_. Sure, they might get a few shots in and manage to delay Ock, but you know just as well as I do that they can't stop him. I'm your only chance Jonah." Peter said matter-of-factly.

Jameson's jaw dropped.

Peter just stared at him before striding past.

"Was that a threat?" he finally spluttered at his photographers back.

"Maybe" Peter shrugged nonchalantly.

"How dare-! You can't... I'll...!" Jameson followed him across the room, poking his finger vigorously in his direction with each syllable.

"You'll what?" Peter turned and stared directly in his eyes. "You'll call the police and have me arrested? You'll sue me for taking something that was mine in the first place? You'll write a nasty expose about who I am and how I'm a menace planning to take over the city?"

"You bet I w-!" Jameson started, now an even uglier shade of magenta.

"-Won't" Peter finished for him. "You won't because you want your daughter-in-law back. You want your son to be happy. You want the city to be safe. It's your choice, Jonah. I could sit right here and talk all day, but the city won't be any safer. What's more important to you? Your paper or your city? Choose carefully".

Peter watched him expectantly, willing him to decide quick because with each passing second Mary Jane was still in danger and Doc Ock was that much closer to his goal.

Jonah stared at him for a moment longer before growling and turning away. He slammed a fist angrily on the desk, scattering several papers. Betty jumped backwards in fright.

"Knew you'd make the right decision JJ!" Peter called as he leapt up the wall for the window. Jonah just grunted and stormed into the next room, slamming the door behind him with enough force to cause a framed picture of his son to fall and smash on the floor.

"Peter!"

He paused half way up the wall and turned back at the sound of Robbie's voice.

"Good luck" he said simply and smiled. Betty gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks" Peter flashed them a smile before disappearing out the skylight.

**Fin**

**The end for now. Please review!**

**Diablo dude1, I'm sorry I didn't get your email, my computer's messed up so I've changed my email adress. I'll email the new one to you. :)**


	2. Betty

**Hey! Ok, I've tortured you for long enough... evil grin... so here's chapter 2. I really don't like this chapter, as I ploughed through it when I had writers block and it just doesn't flow well, but I can't seem to make it any better so I put it up like this. I've written the 3rd part already, but before I can put that up I need to write the 2nd, lol. I thought of a better title, how about: "Shock Horror"? Shall I bother changing it and is it possible to change the title? Oh yeah, I'm sure "scarpered" is a real word but my spellcheck says it isn't, so I left it in anyways. ;) And does Peter live in Manhattan? I think he does but I'm not sure... ah well. Please read and review!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 2**

Betty Brant sighed as she walked out of her bank, stuffing her check book into her purse. She looked up at the darkening sky when a drop of water fell on her nose, and scowled. Wrapping her coat more firmly round herself, she crossed the street and turned left; heading for home. She lowered her head to keep the rain out of her eyes and pulled her collar up high, not that it did any good.

Growling angrily as she stepped ankle deep into a puddle, she hurried on through the storm, not paying much attention to where she was going. Suddenly she ran into something hard. Her hands shot out from her pockets as she fell backwards, pin wheeling her arms madly she tried in vain to regain her balance. She closed her eyes in anticipation of impact with the hard pavement, as if it would somehow stop it from hurting as much.

Then, suddenly, she was on her feet. She opened her eyes and saw Peter Parker's intense blue ones staring back into her own.

"Peter?!" She gasped, and he set her upright then released his arms from around her.

"Sorry." He said as a greeting.

"For what?" Betty said blankly. He looked puzzled.

"For kinda walking into you." He said as if it was obvious, and Betty remembered what had happened. The shock of seeing him again had caused her brain to blank out.

"Oh, it's fine!" She exclaimed. Honestly, he could be so dumb sometimes. But cute, definitely cute. She smiled to herself.

"Right, right." He looked embarrassed for some reason.

"So, what you doing out here?" Betty frowned. "Don't you live in Manhattan?"

"Uh, yeah. I was just in the neighbourhood, I'm heading home now actually." He said awkwardly.

Ah. That translated into, 'I was just saving people as Spider-man, and I was about to go into this alleyway to change and web swing home.' Betty smiled.

"I'm glad you're ok, Pete." She said sincerely. She'd seen some of Doc Ock's and Spider-man's fight to the death on TV, and heard that he'd stopped a train, almost killing himself in the process.

"Yeah. Me too." He answered and she laughed a little.

"You're one of a kind, Pete, that's for sure- Peter are you listening to me?" She said, annoyed. Peter's gaze was vacant, focusing on something far off in the distance. Betty frowned at him.

"What's wro-" she started to say, then stopped and gasped as she felt a gun poke her in the side. She froze every muscle, eyes wide in fear and shock as she saw a gun appear at Peter's head as well. Oh great, they were being mugged.

"Don't do anything stupid if you want to live." A voice snarled in her ear and she whimpered in pain as the gun was shoved further into her spine. An arm grabbed her around the neck and she was dragged roughly backwards into the mouth of the alleyway they'd been standing by. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Peter being pushed in a similar way by a guy twice the size of him with a massive tattoo across his large arm.

They came to a stop and the guy holding her snatched her purse from her grasp then roughly began searching through her pockets for more money. She gulped and looked up at Peter, who was having his wallet removed. She looked at him with wide eyes, trying to convey without words for him to do something.

"Don't move." He mouthed silently at her, and she nodded, thinking how handy it was that she could lip-read.

His eyes flicked down to the guy holding him, then back to her. She saw him tense as he judged the distance then he flipped suddenly into the air, knocking the mugger that had been holding him onto the floor. His jump carried him across the alley and behind her. She kept very still then ran as fast as she could when she felt the gun disappear from her back, spinning around she pressed herself flat to the wall and watched Peter kick the guy in the chin. Meanwhile the other man was getting to his feet, and raising his gun...

"Peter!" She screamed for him to move but didn't need to, he ducked and dodged all twenty or so bullets even though his back was to the shooter. Then he span round a shot a glob of webbing at the guys gun, splattering it to his hand and rendering it useless. The man's eyes widened. He swore and yelled, "It's the spider!" while trying to make a break for the alley's entrance, but his feet were suddenly stuck to the floor with a splatter of white web.

Peter then turned to the remaining mugger and knocked him out with a single punch to the head, before tying him up as well. He turned to Betty.

"You ok?" He asked, frowning in concern. She nodded mutely, eyes wide and mouth open. He nodded and picked up their things from the floor, offering her her purse. She took it with slightly shaking hands, and pushed herself off the wall. The conscious man started shouting obscenities at them as they headed out the alleyway, Peter with his arm protectively around Betty, ushering her to safety. He paused momentarily and turning back, shot some webbing at the man's mouth, muffling his curses.

"My, what a vocabulary you have!" He said sarcastically.

Betty laughed nervously. "How did you do that?" She asked as they continued walking down the street. Peter looked at her.

"I was under the impression that you knew who I am..." He trailed off and left it as a question.

"No, I meant dodging those bullets," she explained hastily. "I mean do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?" She joked, half-serious.

"Or something." He said and she stopped walking.

"You're not serious?" She said, eyes wide.

He paused and looked back at her. Tilting his head, he grinned. "No, I'm not serious".

Betty caught up to him and carried on walking. "Oh. I knew that."

Peter rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, sure ya did." Betty punched him lightly on the arm. "No, I can kind of 'sense' when I'm in danger." He tried to describe the strange feeling he'd dubbed his 'Spidersense.'

"Oh! So that's why you looked at me strangely just before we were mugged?" She said in comprehension, remembering how he'd ignored her.

"_Almost_ mugged," he corrected her. "And yes, but I couldn't find where the danger was coming from before it was too late."

"It worked out ok anyway." Betty replied thankfully. Peter nodded.

"Quite a reputation you've earned." She changed the subject.

"Yeah, well I'm surprised Jameson's actually kept quiet this long." Peter said, feeling a little thankful to the old guy.

"I meant those thugs, scarpered as soon as they found out who you are, didn't they?" She smiled at the memory. "JJ's just bursting at the seams to write a scathing editorial, but he hasn't got any proof to back his claim up." Betty explained why her boss had seemingly been so nice to Peter.

"Ah" Peter said. "Shoulda guessed." The feeling of gratefulness towards his boss quickly disappeared along with his smile.

"So, can I expect to see you bringing Jameson more snapshots?" She asked, and nimbly dodged a puddle.

He laughed. "Not in this lifetime, I'm afraid!"

"Yeah, I guess with the way you quit..." Betty said. "Although Robbie wouldn't mind you doing some more freelance for him, but he'd have to get past Jonah..." She frowned in concentration.

"It's ok, Betty. I'll find another job somewhere. And it was worth quitting the way I did just to see the look on ol' JJ's face!" He added and they laughed.

"Yeah. When and if I ever quit, I'm gonna do it the exact way you did!" Betty said, smiling at the thought.

Peter chuckled. "What? Threaten to let the city get blown up unless he keeps your secret identity just that-secret- then climb out a window?"

"Course!" She grinned at him. "Well, I better get going. See you round Pete, and don't give up the night-job!" She called over her shoulder as she ran across the street to hail a taxi.

Peter smiled as she disappeared into the rain. At least some people appreciated what he did. He smiled and shook his head, before shoving his hands in his pocket and walking home. "No," he muttered to nobody in particular. "I won't give up the night-job."

**End of part 2**

**Next chapter will be about Robbie and Peter running into each other, but I've yet to write it! Thanks for all the lovely reviews, go review some more, lol! Oh and remember to tell me if I should change the title or not :P**


	3. Robbie

**Hiya! Here's chapter 3, which I hate even more than chapter 2, but I love the next chapter so you'll have to grin and bear it. This is set after Spider-man 2, like a few days later, so Peter and MJ are together and Harry knows his father was the Green Goblin etc. **

**Sorry for this chapter, I can't really write Robbie since I've only seen him in a couple of scenes from Spider-man 1 and 2, so he might be a bit out of character. On account of that, this chapter's rather short. Sorry, but I'll make up for it in the next one. :) Robbie's very hard to write, not nearly half as easy as writing Betty. Anyways, I'm babbling, just read and review and look forward to chapter 4 which rocks! Even if I do say so myself ;)**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 3**

Two days later, Robbie was walking down the street in search of a Coffee House. How is that usually there's places like that filling the streets left and right, but when you want a decent cup of joe there's not a seat in sight?

He sighed as he saw a place with cues coming out the door. He went in anyway, and returned outside twenty minutes later, squinting into the bright light. He looked around for a spare table but saw none, then his eyes fell on the back of a head he thought he'd never see again. Coming closer, he could see Peter Parker was sprawled out on the table, head resting on folded arms and his eyes closed. His back moved up and down in rhythm as if in deep sleep. Robbie tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't want to wake the poor boy, especially as he seemed so exhausted, but he needed to talk to him.

Peter's head came up with a jerk and he knocked his now stone cold coffee over with his elbow. He made a lunge for it and caught it just before it spilled all over his jeans. Setting it back on the table he looked up, shielding his eyes against the glare of the bright sun.

"Mr. Robertson?" He asked incredulously. Robbie nodded, smiling slightly at him.

"I thought I told you to call me Robbie, Peter," he said, and motioned to the seat across from Peter, currently occupied by stacks of books. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Sure." Peter moved his books and he sat down, putting his coffee down on the spindly table. Robbie took in his appearance for a moment, his hair was messy and he had dark circles under his eyes from a lack of rest.

"You ok, Peter? You look tired." He said, concerned.

"Just dozed off." Peter replied and smiled sleepily.

"Right." Robbie said, then shook his head, smiling. "I have to say, I thought I'd never see you again".

"Really? How so?" he answered, and stifled a yawn. He took a sip of his coffee then scowled and almost spat it back out again, gagging on the cold liquid.

"Well with the way you walked out on Jonah..." Robbie smiled at the memory. "...or crawled." He added as an afterthought.

Peter grinned. "Always wanted to do that," his smile faded, "Although I cut it awfully close..."

Robbie frowned for a moment then realised what he was referring to. "You didn't really mean... um... if Jonah hadn't chosen to-" he stuttered, unsure how to phrase the question without offending Peter.

"-To keep my identity secret would I still have stopped-" he lowered his voice "-Doc Ock from blowing up the city?" Peter finished for him, seeing him having trouble.

Robbie nodded. He thought he'd got to know Peter fairly well over the two years they'd been working for Jameson, and didn't really believe him capable of such things, but he just had to ask.

"Of course!" Peter exclaimed. "You really fell for that?"

"Well, no, I just thought..."

Peter laughed. "I can't believe you fell for it! And Jonah too, I thought I was a really bad actor!"

Robbie laughed too. "No, you can look kinda imposing when you want to, Peter".

"Thanks, I think." Peter smiled lopsidedly at him. He watched Robbie drink his coffee for a moment then said, "You already knew, didn't you? Who I really am?"

Robbie looked at him strangely. "Are you psychic as well?"

"No" Peter laughed. "Did you know that I knew that you knew?"

Robbie laughed as well. "No, I didn't know that you knew that I knew." He said and grinned.

"Ok, now that's just confusing," Peter shook his head, smiling. "So how did you know?"

"Well, I didn't know for sure. I just had my suspicions, that's all. I mean you always managed to get those great shots of Spider-man when no one else could, and you were always sticking up for him, and you were _always_ late for something or other. It just all fitted together, I guess." Robbie mused.

"Yeah, I better be more careful then." Peter said seriously. "Like what if another super villain comes along and figures it out? Or even the police… I would be so screwed if that happened…" Peter trailed off into mutterings.

"What you studying?" The older man, seeing Peter growing distressed, changed the subject, and gestured to the pile of books.

"Advanced Calculus and Bio-Chemistry." Peter replied, shaken out of his daze.

Robbie gave a low whistle. "Didn't know you were a scientist." He commented.

"When I have the time," Peter admitted. "Bet my teacher thinks I've died or something." He laughed.

"Who's your teacher?"

"Dr. Curt Connors."

"Wasn't he friends with Doc O- Dr. Octavius?" Robbie said, stumbling over the name.

"Yeah, he was." Peter replied sadly. "Dr. Octavius was a good person."

Robbie raised his eyebrows at that. "Didn't he kidnap Mary Jane Watson and try to-"

"-Blow up the city? Yeah, but it wasn't his fault." Peter said.

"Riiight. I won't ask" Robbie said. "Good to see you again, Peter." He stood up and made as if to go.

"Yeah. Maybe I'll see ya around." Peter stood up also and they shook hands.

"Count on it." The editor said and winked at Peter before disappearing into the crowd.

**End of part 3.**

**Please read and review, the next chapter will be up in a couple of days.**

**I think Robbie is editor, and Betty's a secretary, but if Robbie's editor then what's Jameson? Isn't he editor too? I need to know for the next few chapters so please could you tell me in your review their jobs and and any other important character info? I'm also undecided on whether to change the title to 'Shock Horror', since the votes were equal. Please tell me if you like the old or new title better! Thanks.**

**By the way, I've big plans for this story, it's gonna be my first long one! There's at least 5 more chapters to come, and I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and give me some constructive criticism as I'm trying to improve my writing. Thanks a bunch:D**

**EDIT: Reposted this chapter because one kind reviewer told me it stopped halfway for no apparent reason. Thank you!**


	4. Jonah

**Hey there! My favourite chapter! w00t! This is the first chapter that'll move the plot along, not counting the first, the other 2 were just fillers and to show Betty and Robbie's reaction. I've now got all of the plot and all 11 chapters planned out, and I've written 5 of em. Gonna be my longest story ever! Yay! And thanks to everyone who reviewed, and thanks for the info on the characters, should be very useful! Here ya go, catch! lol**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 4**

"Um, Sir?"

Peter poked his head round the door to his boss' office hesitantly. Gone was all trace of the annoyance and impatience that had been evident last time he stepped foot in that room. Instead there replaced it a very nervous young man who was starting to regret past actions. He had a right to be nervous. After all, he was about to enter the lions den.

"Ah-ha!" Jameson spun around and exclaimed upon seeing Peter. "Look who came _crawling_ back!" He mocked triumphantly, laying emphasis on the word 'crawling'. Peter wondered if his choice of words was just a coincidence.

"Well, actually," Peter stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind him, uninvited. "I just came to hand my resignation in".

"_What?!_" Jameson's cigar dropped unnoticed out his open mouth and onto the ground, spraying ash everywhere.

"I assumed I was fired anyway...?" Peter started, unsure what Jameson was up to.

"Well you assumed wrong! I need some more pictures of Spider-man! Now!" He added and banged his fist on the desk to punctuate his point.

"Huh?" Peter said blankly, wondering if he'd heard correctly.

"You heard me! Get some pictures of that costumed freak before I blow a blood vessel!" He yelled angrily, and fished a fresh cigar out his jacket pocket.

"But... I am that costumed fr- I am...him," Peter corrected himself. "Don't you have a problem with that?" He asked, puzzled.

"What did you say, Parker?" Jameson said, with an air of one who's trying very hard not to listen. "You can get pictures of him right?"

"Yeah..." Peter began. By now he was extremely confused.

"Then what are you arguing for?! Go get some shots that will sell my paper!" Jameson roared and Peter beat a hasty retreat to the door.

He shut the door behind him and leaned on it, frowning in deep thought. What was up with Jameson? It's like he's trying to forget who Peter really was...

"Hey Pete." Peter glanced up to see Betty looking at him curiously.

"Hi." He smiled distractedly at her.

"What're you doing here?" She asked.

"Um... well... I don't really know." He stuttered, feeling himself blush slightly.

"You don't know?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Well... I came to hand my resignation in, but Jameson didn't fire me after all..." He frowned again.

"Oh," Betty said in comprehension, eyes clearing. "He's moved into denial." She said and rolled her eyes.

"Denial?" Peter repeated, confused.

"Yeah, he was so mad when..." she lowered her voice and glanced round to check no one was listening. "...when he found out who you were, he just couldn't handle it. So, he didn't. He's refusing to accept the truth, he's far too proud, too stubborn, to believe that he employed Spider-man to take pictures of himself.

"Almost had a coronary, what with knowing he couldn't touch you, I mean me and Robbie aren't exactly going to back him up should he decide to go public on what he knows, and without witnesses or some form of evidence, nobody in their right mind is going to believe you're Spider-man, not matter what he says." Betty explained in a low whisper.

"Thanks." Peter said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Betty rolled her eyes again. "You know I didn't mean it like that, Pete," she said, and walked off to her desk. "Anyway, I can't talk, Jameson's given me enough work to last a lifetime, and then some. I think he's taking out his frustration on anyone and anything, so I would get those shots quick if I wanted to keep my job." She commented, shuffling through a stack of files.

"Ok, and thanks for the heads up. I better go." He said gratefully. He was glad he and Betty could still be friends, he had been worried his status as friendly neighbourhood super-hero would get in the way of their relationship, but it was actually a lot better with her knowing who he was.

"Ok, bye Pete!" Betty waved briefly at him, breaking him out of his trance, then she dived to grab the phone before it stopped ringing.

Peter smiled back and glanced through the window into JJ's office where Robbie was waving his hands about in a placating manner at Jameson, who appeared to be having another of his tirades. He smiled and shook his head before heading out, nodding to several colleagues on the way.

He never thought he'd see the day Jameson would get what he deserved, but here it was. He knew Peter was Spider-man, and couldn't do a single thing about it. Peter sighed happily to himself as he ducked into an alleyway to change. Yep, life could be good sometimes, he thought to himself, never noticing the reflected glint from a camera lens...

**End of Part 4**

**Dum, dum dum! To be continued!**

**I decided to keep 'Surprise, Surprise!' as the title, it would just be too much hassle to change it and people might not realise it's been changed etc.**

**I asked my English teacher if 'scarpered' is a real word and apparently it is actually a word in my country; I've just got a foreign spellcheck. And no, I'm not gonna kill Betty or anyone else off just yet, no Betty is not Peter's new love interest, they're just good friends, as MJ, Harry and Aunt May will eventually be in this fic as well as some other minor characters from the film. It's set a few days after Spider-man 2, by the way. **

**There will kinda be a villain later on but it's complicated, you'll see what I mean when you read it. :) I'm also gonna introduce a character from the comic books/cartoons, I've seen like 3 episodes of the cartoons, but in the ones I saw he was in all of 'em. I'm not gonna tell you who though! Try and guess! ;)**

**Please, please, please review! I REALLY want to know what you think of this chapter, as I think it's amongst some of my best work. I hope you agree! Please review! :P**

**PS: Emily M. Hanson, what did you mean by 'Looks like messed up your quotes; you might wanna check that'? Does it look different on your computer or something? It looks fine on mine so I dunno. :S**

**PSS: Gloomie da Witch, what did you mean by 'weird characters'? Do you mean the letters and text is all messed up or the actual characters in the story, Robbie, Betty etc are weird? lol, I'm confused.**


	5. It Begins

**Heya! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! The villain is very complicated, he's kinda an original one that I've pinched from the comics, but also not at the same time. Does that means it's AU? I dunno. Sorry I can't explain cos that'd give away the plot, lol. You will find out in due time. Oh and that reminds me, the disclaimer that I haven't bothered with for ages, (please don't hurt me lawyers!): Not mine, never will be! :P **

**I didn't realise chapter 3 looked strange, it didn't on my computer anyways. shrugs. Ah well, it's better now. (hopefully). Not too keen on this chapter, but the next part starts to warm up with some more characters from the film being introduced. Please tell me what ya think!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 5**

Peter quickly scaled the wall of the alleyway and started to swing, shaking off the feeling he was being watched. He was just being paranoid, right? No one was watching him. It was stupid. Absurd, even.

He set his camera up a few blocks away and just somersaulted about to the accompanying flash and click of the camera going off every few seconds. There was no crime to speak of so he figured JJ would have to like or lump his admittedly lacklustre pictures.

After ten minutes or so he decided to call it a day, and was about to change back into his civvies when his spider sense went off. He dropped his bundled up clothes along with his camera and quickly scanned the surrounding area for the source of danger.

There, a thug was harassing a young woman, a couple of buildings over. Peter leapt off the stone structure he'd been perched on and landed in a crouch just behind the mugger. The man didn't notice him, since his back was turned, but the blonde's eyes widened and she froze in surprise, or fear, Peter couldn't tell. He hoped it was the former.

He stood up and folded his arms saying casually, "Money really that tight, huh? Tut tut, crime should never be a last resort".

The mugger whirled around and pushed the girl roughly away. She landed on her back and crawled as quickly as she could away from him, whimpering in fear.

"Well, well, well, look who showed up." The man smirked, and, brandishing the small knife at Peter threateningly, advanced slowly, menacingly. He was much, much bigger than Peter, and had a large tattoo across his even larger arm depicting a dragon roaring.

Then he lunged forward with startlingly speed for someone his size, but he wasn't fast enough. Peter ducked to the side and the thug's momentum carried him forward and past Peter, so that his back was turned.

"I mean, if you're gonna do something wrong, do it_ right_. You know, plan months ahead in a basement on one of those big blackboards with chalk and everything- just like they do in the movies." Peter continued, and kicked the guy in the back so he sprawled out on his stomach on the cold, damp floor. His knife skittered out of his hand and near to the mouth of the alley.

The thug growled and rolled over onto his back, glaring angrily at Peter.

As Peter came within range he grunted and struck out with his right foot, hoping to trip Peter, but yet again he was too slow. He simply jumped out of the way then laid a foot on the man's chest, effectively pinning him to the floor. He leant down close to his ear and said, "After all, if ya really wanna play with the big guns like myself, you should get some gimmick of some sort. Like extra arms or something. At least a tail. Ya know what I'm sayin big shot?" Peter tilted his head in a questioning manner. The thug just stared at him, petrified.

"Good," Peter said, satisfied that this particular thug wouldn't be in a great hurry to try his hand at crime again. "Then we understand each other."

He wrapped the man from chin to toe in a thick cocoon of webbing, then easily strung him from a nearby window ledge. Then he turned to the young woman, who was- Ursula!

"Urs- I mean er, here's your purse." He just about managed to stop himself from shouting her name. What a dead giveaway that would be.

The daughter of his landlord gingerly took the purse with shaking hands, her eyes bugging out even more then normal.

"What you doing way out here?" Peter asked curiously. She was a long way from home, and her Dad was extremely overprotective. Peter was sure she'd wouldn't be halfway across the city in a dingy alley with his permission.

"Uh..." Ursula tried to answer but couldn't seem to get her voice box to co-operate. "Um..."

Peter took pity on her. "Ok, do you wanna lift home?"

She nodded mutely and he offered her his arm. She nervously took it, shaking like a leaf, and he hoisted her into his arms.

"Which way?" He remembered to ask, even though he knew perfectly well.

She pointed to the left and he bounced up into the air, above the low level rooftops and into the glare of the setting sun. He knew there had been a reason he'd made the eyepieces on his costume opaque.

Ursula shrieked and buried her head in his shoulder as they climbed up almost fifty feet into the air from one powerful kick of his legs. Oh, right, nervous disposition, Peter reminded himself, and went lower.

"It's ok." He soothed, and eventually she worked up the nerve to look, and was immediately captivated. She smiled and laughed as they swung past the skyscrapers, seemingly into the sun and sky, giggling as the breeze tickled her face.

Peter smiled at her, seeing her so happy, when just a few minutes ago she'd been so scared. This was the kind of thing that made his job worthwhile.

---

Eddy Brock emerged from the shadows, a sly grin fixed on his face. He knew who Spider-man was, and he was going to be filthy rich!

His smile lasted him almost all the way back to the developing studios, but it promptly disappeared as he tripped and fell flat on his face. He'd always been on the clumsy side, tripping over stones and bottles, sometimes even his own feet. He scowled at the memories, the kids at school had laughed and called him names, but now, now he'd show them, he'd show them Eddy Brock was more than just some collage drop-out photographer. Oh no, he was much more than that.

He swore and got to his feet, retrieving his camera from the floor, and continued on his way, grin firmly back in place. This would be what made him, he'd be famous, famous enough to be begged for interviews and job opportunities, for he would be the one to reveal Spider-man's little secret to the world. He would be praised as a hero, the one who helped catch and apprehend the web-head... He couldn't help but laugh as he headed in to get the photos developed that would change Peter Parker's life forever...

---

Peter dropped off Ursula, then quickly swung back to the spot where'd he'd left his clothes and camera. He suppressed a yawn as he stuffed his things into a backpack and slung it on his shoulder. Perhaps he'd take Jonah those pictures tomorrow...

Nodding to himself he set off in the direction of his home, then slapped his forehead as he remembered he'd promised to visit Aunt May for dinner. Freefalling through the air, he decided it was best if he went, even if he dropped asleep into his roast potatoes, he had promised he'd go and he hadn't seen his Aunt since she'd moved out, when she'd given that weird hero speech... He finally shot out a web line that attached to the underside of a bridge, and fished his scribbled directions out of his backpack with one hand whilst he swung gently from side to side in the breeze.

"Right... Tribecca, third left after traffic lights..." he muttered to himself, and set off in a new direction, thinking about the last time he'd seen her. He was positive she knew something, but just how much he wasn't sure. She'd hinted at his identity, touched upon it but never really openly said anything, only arousing his suspicions through cryptic replies and innuendo. He'd have to be on his toes, but to be on his toes he'd have to be awake, and he was most definitely not awake at the moment. Damn.

**End of Part 5**

**Before anyone starts saying Ursula is Peter's new love interest, no she's not. I just wanted to write a scene with Spidey beating the crap out of someone and decided to use her as the victim of the mugger for no particular reason, other than I don't have to invent my own character, I just steal one of Sony's/Marvel's/Whoever Owns Ursula. Now that's out of the way, please read and review my gallant readers and ride onwards to the next chapter which will be posted soon! Yah, sorry, I'm really hyper and in a weird mood cos the Sims 2 is coming out soon! YAY! Anyways, I'm gonna stop talkin now, please R&R!**

**PS: I think I may have stolen a line from a cartoon episode or something, it seems very familiar, so sorry to whoever I borrowed it from! lol**

**PSS: Who else loves the word 'innuendo'? lol.**


	6. Fired?

**Hi! Who ordered a fresh longer chapter with a side dish of fluff and drama? Coming up! Lol, sorry, I'm in a weird mood. Again. Sims 2! Yay! **

**Thanks for the reviews! And YES! I succeeded in making the twist work! Lol, there's gonna be a big surprise for you all in the next few chapters! And it WORKED! My plot actually WORKED! Lol, sorry, I'm just really happy that I managed to pull it off! :D**

**Please read and review!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 6**

"Peter!" Aunt May greeted him with a hug and a smile on her lined face before ushering him through the door.

"Hi Aunt May." Peter smiled brightly, trying desperately to stifle a yawn. That would only get her started on her 'You do too much!' rant, and he really wasn't in the mood.

"Come in dear, you'll catch you'll death of cold outside wearing only that in this weather!" She scolded, and Peter looked sceptically at the thick long sleeved shirt and jacket he was wearing and jeans, but he didn't say anything.

"Wow, nice place." He commented politely as he stepped into the small but pretty hallway. Sure, it was old and cramped and musty, but the place had a nice homey feel to it. His Aunt had repapered the walls and hung up many photos, most of them depicting a skinny little boy with glasses too big for him and a dopey smile. Peter smiled fondly at the pictures of him, his Aunt and Uncle all at the beach together. He remembered he'd spilt ice cream down his t-shirt but Uncle Ben had mopped him up and sent him back out to the rock pools and sandcastles. His smile turned rather sad and wistful.

"Oh this small place?" Aunt May snorted doubtfully. "Honestly Peter, sometimes you can surprise me," she said and went into the kitchen. "Would you like a cup of tea?" She called, bustling about happily in the cupboards.

"No, thanks." Peter replied and leaned in the doorway. "And what do you mean, 'I surprise you sometimes'?" He asked quizzically.

"Well," she stood up and looked at him. "All I'm saying is that sometimes you can be a little unpredictable. You know what I mean?" She tilted her head and he nodded, dropping his gaze.

"Yeah, I guess I do." He said sadly, knowing she was referring to the fact he hadn't found the time to visit her since she'd moved out, hadn't seen MJ in over a week and don't even get started on the situation with Harry, Peter thought grimly to himself.

She turned back to fishing pots and pans out the cupboard, changing the subject as she did so.

"I heard that Spider-man came back." She said in a would be casual, off-hand manner. Peter tensed.

"Uh... yeah, I heard about that too." He said and swallowed nervously.

"Who hasn't?" She laughed a little. "Splashed across the front page of the papers for a week. I also noticed you haven't taken any more pictures of him," she glanced back at him over her shoulder. "Now would there be a reason for that?"

"No, I actually have taken a few shots, just haven't had the time to drop them in at the Bugle." He explained uneasily. Since when did Aunt May monitor the papers?

"Ah, time. A precious few have it." She said philosophically, and Peter stared at her. She was acting oddly again.

"Are you ok, Aunt May?"

"Oh, I'm fine Peter. Just realising I'm getting old and one day I won't be there for you." She looked sadly at him.

"Aunt May, don't talk like that." Peter shook his head.

"Oh I know I shouldn't, I've just had a lot on my mind recently. What with moving out, and you and Spider-man," she waved a hand in the air. "You should treasure the time you have left. Live each day as if it's your last, for you never know what will happen tomorrow. Always remember that, Peter."

"What do you mean by that?" Peter asked.

"Oh, nothing dear. Are you sure you wouldn't like a cup of tea?"

"Um, no, thanks. I just remembered, I gotta go... take some photos to the Bugle." He finished lamely, feeling his spider sense buzz.

"Oh right." She said, a little disappointed, but trying to hide it. She'd been hoping he'd stay for dinner.

"I'm sorry Aunt May," he hurriedly kissed her on the cheek then dashed out the door. "I'll call you!"

Aunt May sighed as she paused in the doorway, watching her nephew run down the street then duck into the nearest alleyway. She shook her head sadly when a few seconds later a blue and red flashed by overhead.

"Honestly! That boy, it'll be the death of him!" She muttered.

She shut the door.

---

'BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!'

A hand slammed down on the alarm clock, instantly silencing it's incessant ringing. The hand pulled away to reveal a very mangled alarm and several screws and pieces of plastic rolling off the small nightstand.

Peter groaned then rolled out of bed, throwing on some clothes, and not bothering with breakfast he headed out the door, just remembering to snatch the photos from the counter on his way out. He walked the 27 blocks to the Bugle, too tired to web swing and too spent up to take a taxi.

He checked his reflection from the glass double doors of the Bugle, and groaned again as he saw he looked a mess. Shaking his head and yawning widely, he pushed the doors open and began the long haul up the stairs to Jameson's office.

The elevator had broken several years ago.

Just as he stepping through the doorway to the main newsroom, he saw Eddy Brock heading in a beeline towards him. "Hi Eddy." He said tiredly, but the other man didn't reply, just smirked unpleasantly at him.

"What are you doing here so early?" Peter asked casually, sensing the beginnings of an uncomfortable silence.

"Oh, just dropping some photos off," he smirked again, then pushed past Peter to the door. "I'll be seeing you around Parker. And don't forget to read the Bugle tomorrow, it's gonna be _amazing_!" He called over his shoulder. Peter frowned after him. What was all that about? He shrugged and headed for Jameson's office.

He met Robbie on the way in and smiled at him.

"Hey Robbie."

"Hey, Peter..." Robbie frowned intensely, not paying full attention to his colleague.

"What's up?" Peter asked, concerned.

"It's just... weird. I've never seen Jonah in such a good mood. I wonder what he's so happy about?" Robbie said after a pause. "Ah well," he shrugged and smiled at Peter. "How are you holding up?"

"Ok, I guess," Peter replied and covered a yawn. Robbie gave him a 'who do you think you're kidding' look, and Peter relented.

"I'm just a little tired," he admitted, and Robbie coughed slightly. "Ok, I'm a lot tired. I'll be fine. Don't worry." Peter reassured him, and Robbie nodded reluctantly.

"Alright, Peter. I better get back to work or Jonah will have my head." Robbie said, and turned back to his desk.

"Sure," Peter smiled. "See ya".

Robbie returned to his work and Peter hesitantly pushed open the big wooden door, feeling strangely apprehensive.

Jameson was talking on the phone, with his back to Peter, but oddly enough it wasn't on speaker phone as it usually was, he was holding the receiver close to his ear and speaking furtively.

"I don't care! I want it tomorrow with or without the proper checks and that's that!"

Peter waited a moment then cleared his throat. Jameson spun round so fast he cricked his neck.

"Good!" He exclaimed triumphantly to the person on the other end of the phone and slammed it back down in it's cradle without so much as a goodbye.

"Ah, Parker." He said politely, and then he actually smiled! And it wasn't forced or polite, it was a genuine smile from J Jonah Jameson! Peter felt his jaw drop and quickly shutting it, handed him the portfolio.

Jameson leaned back in his chair and took a puff on his cigar, casually flicking through the pictures, smiling all the while. Then he put the folder down and leant forward on his desk, still smiling pleasantly.

"Parker?" He said.

"Yes sir?" Peter replied, feeling sure he was going to get a raise or a permanent job.

Jameson paused for a long moment then yelled, "You're fired!" Then he leant casually back in his chair and lit a fresh cigar, savouring the moment. Peter blinked.

"Wha-why?" He stuttered, shocked.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Parker," Jameson said calmly, and smirked. "Just read the paper tomorrow, you'll see what I mean." He said then ushered a stunned Peter out the door, flapping his hands impatiently.

---

Peter trudged home with his hands shoved in his pockets, head down, his heavy backpack bouncing on his shoulders with every step he took. He had tried to fix his bike and failed. Sure, he could stop trains and save the city from being boiled alive, but he couldn't fix his moped. How pathetic is that? He thought to himself. He sighed and looked up at the grey sky as it started to rain, but he didn't quicken his pace.

He just walked.

A newspaper vendor shouted out the headline, 'Spider-Menace Threatens City', and waved the front page irritatingly close to his face, but he didn't react.

He just walked.

A man jostled him as he ran past, and called him some rather obscene names, but he ignored him.

He just walked.

He finally looked up when he realised he'd walked a block too far past his apartment, and started trudging in the direction he'd just come from.

He kept his head down all the way to his front door, then gasped and looked up in surprise as he saw a beautiful pair of legs. He swivelled his eyes up the body of the woman sitting on his doorstep, a woman who happened to be...

"Mary Jane." He breathed, and she stood up.

"Hey tiger," she smiled, and came closer, putting her hands on his chest. "Where ya been?" She whispered in his ear, and he shivered from her proximity.

"Um... been kinda-"

"-busy," she finished for him. "I know." She put a hand on his face then kissed his lips tenderly. "Got a little leftover time for me?"

"Definitely" he whispered, still reeling from the kiss.

**End of Part 6**

**Sorry if 27 blocks is like halfway across NYC or something, I'm not sure how far a block is but I wanted to give the idea that Peter had to walk a fairly long way to get to the Bugle. Quite like this chapter, especially the Peter/MJ scene, there'll be more fluff next chapter!**

**PS: Emily M. Hanson: Ursula is a minor character from Spider-man 2, Peter's landlord's daughter, the skinny blonde who asks if he wants some cake.**

**Diablodude1: Ok, thanks for telling me. Hope to talk to you soon! :)**

**Thanks to diggerthedirtyhorse for helping me with the last part! :D**

**Don't forget to review! ;)**


	7. You're Not Superman

**Hi! Sorry for the delay, I was planning on putting this up the day before yesterday, but my evil art teacher gave me homework that took SIX hours in total! It's ridiculous! -grumble grumble-**

**Anyway, I like this chapter, which makes a change ;) Especially the end... lol! There's more fluff, as requested and some angst in the next chapter! Had a great time writing this and I hope you have a great time reading it! If you do, please review!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, sorry but if I skip school any more than I already do I'll get detention! Or investigated by the police for never being there, lol. ;)**

**On with the story!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 7**

"So, what ya been up to tiger?" MJ dumped her coat on a chair and sunk onto Peter's bed. He sat down beside her.

"Being late, running out on people, getting fired. Same old, same old". He grinned at her but his smile quickly faded.

"You got fired?" MJ asked, surprised, and leant back against the pillows. "I thought Jameson was denying that you're Spider-man? What happened to the 'deaf-ear'?"

"He transferred it to me. Shouted so loud in my eardrum I thought it would burst," he laughed lightly, and snuggled up next to her, bringing an arm around her slim waist. "I don't know what's up with him. One moment he's perfectly civil, the next he's yelling in my face." Peter looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

MJ glanced over at him. "I'm sorry, tiger," she said softly and he smiled and looked into her eyes. "Can't seem to get a break, can you?"

"Only when I'm here with you." He replied and leaned forward to kiss her.

MJ suddenly pulled away and checked her watch. "Oh no! Tiger, I'm sorry, I gotta go." She sat up and pulled on her coat reluctantly.

"So soon?" Peter frowned and sat up as well.

"Yeah, I thought you'd be back earlier. I have an audition across town in..." she checked her watch again. "...5 minutes! Aw crap!" she exclaimed and dashed for the door.

"Whoa! Wait a minute MJ! Do you want a lift, Spider-man express style? It'll be quicker." He added as an incentive.

"You'd do that?" At his nod she rushed to the balcony doors instead as he stripped down to his suit. "Oh thank you so much Peter! I don't know what I'd have done if it wasn't for you!"

"Sure." Peter smiled and pulled on his mask before hastily scooping MJ up in his arms and diving headfirst out the window.

MJ screamed as they plummeted to the pavement below, but Peter knew it wasn't one of fear or horror, it was one of excitement and delight. He whooped with her as they soared back up into the sky on a new web line, seemingly into the sun as it flashed from behind a skyscraper and blinded them. MJ giggled as he jumped from the web and for a moment they seemed to hang suspended with nothing but air beneath their feet, before once more they were rising back into the sky.

She could feel his muscular body twist and turn as he threw them through the air faster than she'd ever gone before, but she wasn't scared. She could feel the muscles beneath his skin contract and relax and knew with a certainty that he would never let her come to any harm. She was amazed by the speed they were achieving, down below they were easily overtaking the little multicoloured dots that were cars and pedestrians. Looking back up as she felt a slight bout of vertigo coming on, she smiled at Peter when he asked he if she was ok.

"I'm fine, tiger." She replied, hoping he could hear her above the roar of the wind in their ears, but he nodded. However, he still slowed down ever so slightly, and MJ had to smile at his perceptiveness and overprotective attitude when it came to her.

She looked round at the buildings flying past them, and occasionally saw a bored office worker stare at them with their mouth hanging open. Spider-man didn't usually hang around this part of NYC much, it was on the wealthier side and crime seemed to be less of a problem here.

Too soon their journey was over, although MJ felt also felt grateful to be able to put her feet back on solid ground. He dropped her off in an alleyway close to her building and stayed and watched to make sure she got in ok. He knew MJ wouldn't approve of his 'molly-coddling' of her, but he had so recently almost lost her that he felt it was duty to look after, at least until the nightmares stopped.

"Bye MJ," he whispered as she disappeared through the swinging doors. "You go get 'em girl".

---

Peter swung back home, changed and figured he had just enough time to make it to Bio-Chemistry without getting berated for being late. He dashed out the door and was about to leg it to his class, when he saw a car swerving out of control, heading for an elderly woman and three kids that were presumably her grandchildren.

He flew across the street and dived on top of the four unknowing pedestrians, narrowly avoiding the fishtailing car. Stumbling to his feet he dashed into the alleyway, heedless of the three kid's and their grandmother's cries of surprise. The eldest boy helped his grandmother to her feet and all four of them watched, astounded, as Spider-man shot out the alleyway and after the speeding car.

Landing on the bonnet of the car, Peter peered through the windscreen at a middle aged woman who was screaming at the top of her lungs. He gathered from her yells that she wasn't a thief in a getaway car, but the brakes had blown and now they were speeding downhill to a busy junction.

Damn.

It.

He turned back to face the road and took a deep breath. He slid down so he was stuck to the front bumper, and cautiously stuck his left leg out onto the road. His leg shook and strained with the pressure, but the car was a lot lighter than the train he'd tried to stop using that method, and going a lot slower, though it was still considerably fast as trees and pedestrians whizzed by in a blur.

He ignored the building pain in his knee and the road which was flying up in great clumps as he noticed they were slowing down, yes, come on... almost there.

They slid to a halt just before the bustling intersection, narrowly avoiding an extremely angry truck driver who was honking his horn. Peter got to his feet shakily, gingerly put weight on his leg then winced and quickly put all his weight on the other leg.

He hobbled round to the drivers side and looked through the open window. "Are you ok, ma'am?"

She was sitting, trembling violently with her hands clasped so tightly on the wheel her knuckles were turning white. She jumped and stared at him with wide eyes when he spoke, and it took a moment for the words to register in her mind.

Ah, she was going into shock, Peter diagnosed. He'd seen it hundreds; maybe even thousands of times with the victims of various muggers, murderers and rapists he'd caught, so he was familiar with the symptoms. Other than that, however, she appeared to be fine. A little shaken up, but that was to be expected.

He nodded to himself when she didn't reply, then looked up as he realised they'd attracted quite a crowd. People were lining the pavements, staring in amazement, and the whole junction had come to a complete standstill as the drivers stopped and stared out their windows.

"Uh... I'll just be going..." Peter said to nobody in particular, then shot out a web and leapt into the sky, wincing as his leg stung with the effort.

He swung fast and high across the city, desperately trying to make it to his last class on time, knowing he'd already missed one that day. However, he was having trouble, his leg was still aching uncomfortably and he was getting rather distracted, missing his web lines several times and almost plunging to his death. On the third occasion, he decided to swing lower, it would be a lot safer even if there was less room to manoeuvre.

He landed and quickly changed before running into the building, limping slightly on his bad leg. He dashed into his classroom and everyone stared at him, Dr. Connors pausing in his speech about the neutrons in the nuclei of atoms and radioisotopes. Peter hastily made his way to his seat, blushing furiously and muttering an apology.

Dr. Connors frowned at his brightest but most apathetic student. Where did he get to all these times there was a 'disturbance' or he was 'busy'? He shook his head in disapproval. "Parker, see me at the end of class."

Peter nodded sadly and slumped into his seat. He felt eyes on the back of his head and sure enough, as soon as he'd sat down someone poked him in the shoulder.

He sighed quietly and turned around to face Debra Whitman.

"Why've you late again?" She hissed, sounding much like an angry goose crossed with a snake.

"I lost track of time." He whispered back, then turned back to the front. He heard Debra mutter in his ear but chose to ignore her, instead trying to discreetly see what notes the class had already made by looking at his neighbour's paper.

Peter fumbled his way through the pop quiz and handed in an obviously quickly done piece of homework that could have been written in another language, it was so untidy.

His legs felt like lead as he dragged himself up to the front of the class to Dr. Connors as everyone else squeezed out the doors. He waited patiently beside Connor's desk as he filed some papers.

Connors finally looked up and appraised Peter with a sad gaze.

"Peter, I don't know what to say", he said quietly, disappointment filling his voice. Peter cringed and looked away. Anger he could stand. Shouting, screaming, anything but this morose full disappointment he could take.

He stared at an ink blot on a corner of a sheet of paper and said nothing.

Connors sighed in frustration. "You're my brightest student, Peter. The cleverest of your age, and I haven't met someone with as much potential to be brilliant, to truly achieve something and change the world in years." He paused and sighed again, and Peter felt a 'but' coming on.

"However, what use is potential when you let it go to waste?" Ah. 'However.' A fancy 'but'.

"You could do so much, Peter, if you would only put your mind to it. Turn up on time, get a proper nights rest and doing your homework once in a while wouldn't hurt".

"I did do it this time." Peter protested feebly. Connors gave him a look then fished out Peter's attempt at an essay on isotopes.

"Do you really consider this an acceptable form of homework?" He asked, and Peter slowly shook his head.

"I'm sorry sir, I really am, I want to be here, I want to do this, but I...I can't." He finished quietly.

"You can't? Why ever not?" Connors asked, surprised. This was the most he'd ever got out of Peter concerning his mysterious disappearances.

"I just can't. And I can't tell you why, either." He said it even quieter, if that was possible, looking anywhere but his teachers eyes.

"Peter," Connors forehead creased in concern. "You know, you can tell me anything. If you're having problems, in trouble-"

"No! It's nothing like that," Peter interrupted quickly. "It's nothing like that. Just trust me when I say I have a very good reason to not be here." He pleaded, and Connors stared at him for a minute, before nodding reluctantly.

"Ok Peter. And take care, alright?" He said, and Peter smiled a little.

"Yeah. Thanks Dr. Connors." He replied and left.

Dr. Connors stared at the door he'd left through for some time, thinking. He finally gathered his things together, frowning, and headed for home.

---

RINGRING! RINGRING! RINGRI-BEEP!

"Hi, you've reached Peter's apartment. He's out saving the world at the moment-"

There was pause then and a feminine voice saying "Peter! Don't tell the whole world you're Superman!" Then laughter.

"-due to the saving of the world, he's not here at the moment-" Peter valiantly continued, fighting back the giggles. "-so please leave a comment that may or may not be taken on board, depending on who it's from, what it's about, why th-"

There was another beep, and Betty gathered that Peter and presumably his girlfriend, (what was her name? JM?), had gone on too long in fits of laughter. At least the guy still had a sense of humour, she thought grimly to herself, as she was about to leave a message that would shatter his world.

"Hey Pete? Peter? It's me, Betty, and I really need to talk to you, and so does Robbie... can you meet us at the café at 3pm on Swansea street? If you're there pick up. It's really important, but I... guess you're not there, so please ring back as soon as you get this message... bye..."

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

The beep of the machine blared through the empty apartment ominously...

**End of Part 7**

**Dum, dum dum! Find out just what that ominous message was all about in the next chapter, to get there, please take a left down review street and leave a comment or two! lol ;)**

**By the way, updates will be less frequent from now on due to a suffocating amount of homework. -gags- Sorry, but unless you can go back in time and make sure homework was never invented, then you'll have to wait, lol.**

**Yes, I stole a few lines/scenes and twisted them from various TV shows and films such as Friends and Spider-man 2. Don't own, don't sue. I also made a couple of places up, e.g. 'Swansea Street'. Since I don't have a map of NYC and can't exactly fly all the way out there for the sake of a fanfic, people who live in NYC/ Are NYC boffs will have to use their imagination a little. There was another part of the fic I wanted to comment on... but I can't remember what...**

**Oh well. Please read and review! Reviews make me write faster... ;)**


	8. The Masterplan

**Yay! Suspense was what I was going for and apparently it worked! Glad you people liked that chapter, it was very tricky to write, and I managed not to give away the whole plot. :D**

**By the way, this chapter was named after my fave Oasis song! Just some useless information, lol.**

**Hey, Jewel59, I'd like to see some of your stuff (stuff as in artwork), do you have a website or something you post it on? If not, it's ok, I was just checking. :)Yep, me love art even more than me love writing- and that's saying something! **

**closetfan: Yeah, I read through the chapter again after reading your comment and I realise what you mean- lol! Oh well, let's just say that was MJ's fave word of the day... er yeah...that works... ;)**

**Jenn: Maybe... or maybe not. You'll just have to read to find out!**

**Brynn: In what way did I spell the chapter title wrong? Do you mean the 'Your' part should be 'You're'? Yeah, I was confused about which one was correct, so I just closed my eyes and picked one! Lol.**

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: What does 'Boligrafo' mean? Sounds good... (shrugs)**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 8**

Peter slumped back onto his bed with a depressed sigh. Why must things always be so hard? He mused to himself. He thought he should probably try to ring Harry again. He'd been trying to contact him for over two weeks, since the fiasco with Doc Ock and Harry finding out that not only was his best friend Spider-man; he had also killed his father. Well, I'd _supposedly _killed his father, it wasn't really my fault, Peter thought. He'd told Harry that how many times now he didn't know, with as much luck as he would have telling a brick wall. Peter sighed in frustration.

Staring at the ceiling, he absently played with a loose thread of his bed spread. Sighing as he accidentally ripped the stitching, he sat up wearily and was about to fix himself a drink when he saw his answer machine was flashing red.

Instead, he walked over to that and pressed the little button to play his messages.

"Hey Pete? Peter? It's me, Betty, and I really need to talk to you, and so does Robbie... can you meet us at the café at 3pm on Swansea street? If you're there pick up. It's really important, but I... guess you're not there, so please ring back as soon as you get this message... bye..."

'BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP...'

Her voice sounded strained, Peter thought. What if it's some kind of emergency? He instantly forgot about his drink and dashed out the door.

---

"Hey Pete! Peter! Over here!"

Peter followed the voice to it's origin and found Betty Brant and Robbie Robertson sitting huddled at a secluded table in the bustling café.

"Hi," he said, and dropped into the spare chair, before giving them a curious look. "What's up?" He asked warily.

"Well..." Betty began nervously. "I'm not really sure how to tell you this Pete, but well... we both quit the Bugle." She started with the easiest piece of information to digest, not wanting to drop the bombshell all at once.

"What? Why?" Peter said, puzzled.

"Well... you see..." Betty continued hesitantly, but Robbie interrupted.

"Jameson's got photographic proof of who you are." He said bluntly.

Peter felt his stomach drop and just sat there in stunned silence, letting it sink in.

"What?" He finally stuttered, mouth dry.

"I'm sorry Peter. Eddy Brock came in yesterday with some shots of you without your mask, Betty heard it all. We quit in protest, for all the good it did." Robbie said sadly, and smiled bitterly, without mirth.

"Yeah, I was right outside the door when I heard them mention your name, so I, well, I wouldn't say I eavesdropped or anything... just listened in... Anyway, I heard Jameson's planning page one as we speak for this afternoon, and three guesses who's the main article." Betty finished dryly.

"I can't believe this. What am I going to do?" Peter asked, but no one had an answer.

---

Grinning, Jameson looked around at the printing room. Dozens, no hundreds of copies of his newspaper were about to go out. All proudly bearing the headline "SPIDER-MAN: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE MENACE!", with a colour photographic of Spider-man with his mask in his hands, obviously about to pull it over his head.

Jameson wasn't pleased with the quality of the picture, there was even a pink blob at one corner that was Eddy's finger over the lens, but it would have to do. It wasn't the quality that mattered- what mattered was that he'd got proof of who Spider-man really was in his grasp, and fame and fortune, and sweet, sweet, revenge, were almost close enough to taste.

He'd made a good choice in sending Eddy Brock on that job. Sure, he could be clumsy and overenthusiastic sometimes, but when put on the spot he could deliver. And how he had delivered this time, Jameson chuckled to himself. He gave one last, almost loving glance at the front page before walking out and shutting the door.

---

Peter darted out the small café as quickly as he could; ducking into the closest alleyway, he emerged seconds later wearing the familiar red and blue that made him instantly recognisable to any passers-by as the Amazing Spider-man.

So that had been what Eddy had meant? Peter thought grimly to himself. Damn it. Damn it all to hell, what am I going to do now?

He swung into his bedroom and landed with a thump on the wooden floor. He tossed his mask into a drawer and hastily began to change into regular clothes, cursing to himself at the injustice of it all the while.

He heard a sudden knock at the door and looked up sharply, still with his shirt half on and half off his body, exposing the black spider logo on his chest. He sighed in relief when he saw it was only Mary Jane knocking and looking through the letter box on his door expectantly, an amused expression on her face.

He pulled the shirt down over his head and quickly opened the door, immediately wrapping his girlfriend in a hug. He'd never been so pleased to see her in all his life.

She pulled back after a few minutes and frowned at him, looking very worried. "Is there something wrong, Peter?" She asked softly.

"Mary Jane..." He took her hand. That wasn't good. He never called her Mary Jane unless there was something wrong. He led her to the bed and they sat down on the edge. MJ took his other hand in her own and rubbed his fingers in a comforting gesture.

"What is it?" MJ asked. He looked at her and she thought she could see tears welling up in his eyes. "You know you can tell me anything..." She reassured him quietly.

He took a deep breath then said shakily. "Jameson knows who I am, and he's got evidence. Eddy Brock got him some photos of me without my mask." He said it quickly, as if that would somehow stop it from being true. MJ just sat in silence, letting it sink in.

"Are you sure?" She finally asked cautiously.

"Yes" He said firmly. "Robbie and Betty told me personally."

"They know who you are too?!" She exclaimed in surprise. Peter hadn't told her before, he figured it would just cause her to worry more.

"Um... yeah... but they won't tell anyone, I'm sure!" He defended them hastily, seeing MJ open her mouth to start a rant. She sure could be fiery sometimes. Better not let her and JJ stay in the same room for too long, could have a shouting match erupt, Peter thought absently. Not that they'd consent to be in a room together after this, he added bitterly.

MJ slowly shut her mouth reluctantly. "I'm sorry Tiger." She gave him a warm hug. He sighed and leant into the embrace, smelling the sweet scent of mango and strawberries that was uniquely Mary Jane.

They pulled apart after a while and MJ sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. "So," she said assertively, and pulled her legs up onto the bed and crossed them. "What's the plan of action?"

"There isn't one." Peter groaned and flopped on his back, staring up at the dingy ceiling. MJ's face appeared in his field of vision, looking annoyed and concerned.

"So what? You're just gonna sit here and wait for the inevitable? We have to do something Peter!" She said angrily.

"Like what?" Peter retorted tiredly, defeated. "You said yourself it's inevitable..."

"It doesn't have to be." She protested, and he sat up.

"You have something in mind?" He looked at her carefully, hope rising in him once more.

"Maybe," she said informatively, and crossed to his desk, grabbing a pen and paper.

"Right... if it comes out this afternoon we've got..." she checked her watch. "Roughly an hour". She finished and her face fell.

"An _hour? _MJ, what do you hope to accomplish in an hour!" Peter exclaimed in frustration, though it was misplaced.

"Peter calm down and just listen!" MJ snapped and he immediately looked contrite.

"Sorry MJ. It's just... so frustrating... I feel like there's nothing I can do... I'm just sitting here, waiting for my life to be torn apart." He confessed, and MJ's face softened.

"I'm sorry too, Tiger," she said quietly, and by mutual consent they pecked each other on the lips quickly.

"Ok," MJ said, all business again. "Where does Jameson store the negatives for the paper?"

"The printing room, he always does. Why... oh!" Peter said, seeing where she was going.

She grinned, seeing his face brighten. "You could sneak in, Spider style, and take them!" She said triumphantly.

"MJ, what would I do without you?" He said smiling.

"I don't know," her grin grew even wider and she peered at him from under her side fringe mischievously. "What would you do _with _me?"

He just grinned back and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. She giggled and blushed.

"But right now, I have an identity to save." He said out loud, and started to unbutton his shirt again.

When he'd finished changing and was standing ready by the window, MJ walked up to him. She stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, mask and all.

"Good luck." She whispered.

**End of Part 8**

**Meh, I don't like the Peter/MJ scene in this chapter, it's too... I don't know what it is, there isn't a word. I just don't like making them argue, but it's all for the good of the plot! I swear! And they did kiss and make up! Please don't hurt me! (cowers in corner until rotten tomatoes stop whizzing by)**

**You'll just have to imagine what Peter whispered to MJ, I don't write that kinda stuff! ;)**

**Thanks for reading, if you even bothered to read it. Also, please review, and thanks for reviewing the last chapter! **

**Also thanks for reading the authors note, which is always too long. Oh well. (whistles innocently)**

**Also, I like the word 'also'. It's my fave word of the day!**

**Also PS: Still getting truckloads of homework, but I'm getting used to it now, so next chapter up in 5 days-ish. Yay, I invented a new word! :P**

**Also, bye! :D**


	9. Shock Horror

**Hi! Managed to get rid of my writers block long enough to type this up. However, chances of the next update coming soon don't look too good, I'm afraid. :(**

**This chapter is dedicated to my mum, because it's her birthday today! No, I'm not going to tell you how old she is; I really don't think she'd appreciate it. ;)**

**As always, please read and review!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 9**

Peter winced as he scraped against the side of a building, grazing his right arm. He was swinging as fast as he had ever gone before, which was a considerable speed, across the city to the Bugle on his mission. He was extremely worried about the plan, and as a result, kept forgetting to look where he was going.

After narrowly avoiding a truck for the third time, he decided to keep his mind more focused on the task at hand, not what was to come.

But he found he couldn't. His mind kept drifting off to anything and everything- collage, work, but mostly the plan. He ran through all the little details repeatedly, not that there were that many details, the idea was beautifully simple, but then, the best plans were.

Clever MJ. His clever, beautiful, witty MJ had thought it all up. It wasn't like it was incredibly difficult or scheming, just in, out, and that would be it. But in his shock and confusion his brain had gone blank and for a moment he couldn't think. He was just filled with a mindless terror in the face of danger, and in hindsight he berated himself for that. What if the danger hadn't been the threat of his identity being revealed to the world? What if it had been a burning building, a car crash, with defenceless people, mothers, fathers, children, trapped inside? What if he'd just frozen then? What if those innocents never made it out alive because of his moment of panic?

Realising he was getting depressed, Peter shook those thoughts off, after all, it was an entirely different situation. He shouldn't, couldn't, blame himself for something that hadn't even happened, he was getting ridiculous.

Allowing his mind to drift back to MJ, he sighed. He shouldn't have snapped at her. All of this wasn't her fault. She wasn't to blame, she'd just been trying to help, and he'd shouted at her. Peter nodded decisively to himself as he decided to make it up to her; just as soon as he'd saved his anonymity.

---

He'd nearly made it to the Bugle, he was _almost_ there, just a couple of hundred metres, when fate and karma decided to intervene. Damn fate and karma, Peter cursed, as he looked upon the wreckage of a fiercely burning building.

Knowing he'd never be rid of his guilt if he just swung on by, he flipped off the end of his web and went to get a closer look.

---

Karyn Hamil stood outside her home, tears of anguish streaming down her face in torrents, her throat red raw and her voice hoarse from screaming. She was being restrained by a fire fighter, one strong arm around her waist to stop her from running into the building, fire or no, to try and save her two children, and most likely get herself killed.

She knew the man was right, she'd never make it out alive of that hell hole, and she hated him for it.

"NO! Let me GO!" She yelled but the fire fighter only looked sadly at her and shook his head. She continued to pound on his arms but he didn't give, and soon she had worked herself into exhaustion. She just watched in horror and felt all hope shattering along with the windows as they blew outwards and onto the road. The man had been right; if he'd let her in she'd have been toast by now.

Karyn sank down in defeat, sobbing uncontrollably, onto the floor, grieving the loss of her two daughters, when a blue and red blur flashed by her head...

Her sobs abruptly ceased and she stared in wonder as the blur more commonly known as Spider-man jumped into the building, cursing under his breath all the while.

"...damnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnit..."

Karyn stood up slowly on shaky legs, her hands over her mouth, eyes squeezed tightly shut as she prayed. The seconds seemed to last hours, the hours turning into days, then...

"...damnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnit..."

Her eyes flew open and she had just enough time to glimpse the blue and red blur disappear into the horizon, still chanting his mantra. Then she looked down when she felt something tug on her skirt, and there standing before her, a little worse for wear but smiling, were her two children.

"Mummy!" The youngest cried, and Karyn bent down and hugged them close to her, tears of joy now filling her eyes.

---

Peter kept up his muttering all the way to the Bugle, where he thought that being discreet was the best way to go about things. He quickly landed on the long side of the triangular building that didn't have any windows for curious workers to pop their heads out and see him. Very carefully, he made his way to the printing room, where Jameson usually stored the negatives from photos to be used in the paper, and the future copy of the newspaper itself. All the important newspapers and top-secret issues were stored in that room, and Peter knew good old predictable Jameson would keep the evidence of Spider-man's identity all in one place and under lock and key, not trusting even the security of his own home enough to leave copies there.

Prising the window open, he grimaced as it made a loud creaking noise, and paused for a few seconds to see if anyone would come running. No one came, however, so he quickly and quietly slipped through the foot and a half gap between the ledge and frame.

It was quite a long drop to the floor so instead of jumping down and risking making a noise, he crawled down the wall and tiptoed onto solid ground, wincing whenever one of the musty old floorboards creaked.

Jameson really needed to redecorate, Peter thought absently to himself, as he began to move previous headlines and clouds of dust billowed up in his face. Luckily, his mask protected him from the worst of the dust, but he still had to cover a cough.

"...And so then, I say to Billy..."

Peter shot straight upwards and stayed crouched on the ceiling as two ex-colleagues of his entered the room, laughing and joking.

Trying to stay completely still, he watched as they made their way across the room and fished a stack of papers out from the rest of the pile, then left as soon as they'd come, with Ted finishing telling the punch line to his joke so that Tom laughed out loud before slamming the door.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief and crawled back down to the floor, so as not to cause any more noise. He again crept over to the stack and hastily rifled through, ignoring the multiple paper cuts that came from being careless.

He barely managed to restrain himself from shouting aloud in frustration when he found the paper and negatives weren't there, and instead let out a string of colourful curses, the worse of which was 'Damn it', in his mind.

Speeding through the piles again, he once more came up with nothing. Nothing. What now? He thought in desperation, what the Hell do I do now?

Peter leapt out the window as the door swung open again and sat under the sill, listening.

"What a stroke of luck in finding that Brock kid," there was a pause then gruff laughter that identified the speaker to Peter as Jameson. "Parker won't know what hit him." Jameson said smugly, and stood looking proudly around the cluttered newsroom for a minute before the slam of the door signified that he'd left.

---

Peter dejectedly swung home, wallowing in his self pity he kept his head down and went much slower than usual, to avoid becoming a pancake on the front of a passing bus or truck.

He didn't much feel like going home to a frantic MJ who would surely freak out at the news that the brilliant plan had gone awry. Not so brilliant anymore, Peter thought wryly. She's gonna either smother me in pity or have a fit. Hmm, tough call, he thought absently, but I'm gonna go with the pity party.

A flash of colour and a familiar face caught his eye and jerked him out of his melancholy. Releasing the end of his web after he'd swung a semi-circle, he went back to investigate. He silently perched on the wall above the newspaper stand and tilted his head to read the front page of the Bugle's afternoon edition.

There, plastered across dozens of copies, was a photograph of him, in full Spider-man attire.

Except for his mask.

He scanned the front page and saw the photo was accompanied by a snappy headline:

"SPIDER-MENACE REVEALED!"

**End of Part 9**

**Dum, dum, DUM! Nice little cliffhanger there for you all. See how I got round whoever-noticed-it's point that there would be several copies of the photos? Ok, I admit I didn't think of that, but it was pretty clever making Jameson too paranoid to even take the photos home. Even if I do say so myself. ;)**

**Sorrow1: You'll see soon enough. And when did I write Jameson leaving his office with a copy of the newspaper?**

**Brynn: Did you get my e-mail?**

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: Well done for the A!**

**Gloomie daImproved Pot: Eddie followed Peter when he came out of the Bugle and took a photo of him changing... I think it's in chapter 4, I didn't directly say he took photos but I left it to peoples imagination.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, reviews make my day! :D (review more, I wanna be happy ;) )**


	10. No Comment!

**Hello there! Chapter 10 is finally here! Whoo double figures! There are 5 more chapters, for anyone who's wondering. Anyways, I'm very happy because I'm getting a cat in 4 days! :D**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 10**

Peter stared at the front page, there it was, just sitting there innocently. Announcing his secret to the whole world.

He didn't know how long he sat there, sticking to the wall, with his neck craned in an awkward position to read the article. He had never truly understood or believed the phrase 'time lost all meaning', but now, here in the mess he was in, it hit him with full force. It was only when his neck started to go stiff and fire pains up and down his spine that he jerked out of his trance, and realised he'd read the first line of the article again and again, without ever really taking it in. "Peter Parker is Spider-man!" it screamed.

He shook himself, breaking himself out of the zone he was in, and quickly shot out a strand of webbing to latch onto a copy and snatch it back into his hands. He forgot to pay in his hurry. He just swung off, in the vague direction of his home where MJ would surely be waiting, worried sick.

Burning with dread and curiosity, the two emotions conflicted and he ended up snatching glimpses of the front page as he swung, before hastily looking away, almost afraid of the writing on the ordinary grey paper that left black marks on his gloves. He almost laughed at that thought, but at the same time felt like crying so he compromised and did neither.

His apartment came upon him so suddenly he actually swung past it and had to double back before he could land softly on the balcony. MJ was sitting on the single bed, staring into space distantly, but her head bobbed up when she heard the door handle turn and Peter stepped slowly through.

She rose from the bed, hands clasped together, face pale, her eyes begging him to tell her that it was alright, he'd sorted it out, everything would be fine.

He just shook his head slowly, but it was enough.

"Oh Peter!" she flung himself into his arms, tears streaming down her cheeks instantaneously. "Peter" she mumbled into his chest, as he rested his chin on her hair. "What now, Peter? What now?"

He couldn't answer her.

---

MJ stayed for a couple of hours, until the sky began to darken. At first they talked and cried, going through endless possibilities that would somehow undo all the wrong doings of that afternoon, and sat and hugged each other sadly when the possibilities followed through into dead ends.

Peter felt like he was banging his head repeatedly on a brick wall, and with each jolt he was losing just that little bit more of hope. After a while they stopped talking, and just laid in each others arms, consoling each other, taking comfort from the warm embrace.

"MJ?" Peter said quietly, not having enough energy to muster up the will to speak louder.

"Hmm?" She murmured, and stopped her lazy tracing of Peter's arm to glance up into his eyes.

"Don't you have an audition at 7?" He asked, and she looked back down.

"Yeah." She said softly.

"Well," he said patiently, "Don't you think you ought to go?"

She shook her head in answer. "I'm not going" She replied lowly.

"MJ," he said sternly, but she didn't look up. "I want you to go. This could be your big break, your chance to make it in the world. I understand you want to stay here with me and don't feel like doing anything right now, but this is your dream, MJ. Don't let it get away."

She didn't say anything for a long while as she considered his words, then she twisted in his arms and put a hand on his chest to look at him properly. "You're sure?" She said doubtfully, and at his encouraging nod, a slow smile lit up her face.

"Alright tiger. I'll be right back, k?" She leaned forward and pecked him on the lips before hurriedly pulling on her coat and gathering her things. Peter sat up and followed her to the door.

"Be careful, ok? I love you." They kissed again then MJ was gone, dashing down the stairs, her russet hair flying out behind her. Peter sighed and leaned against the door as he watched her disappear from view.

---

He spent the next hour or so doing exactly nothing. Except for worrying ceaselessly, and coming up with plans that wouldn't work. And later ignoring the pounding on his door and shouts through the keyhole from his landlord of "I know you're in there! I want an explanation, Parker!"

Eventually Ditkovich had to give up. Peter knew he was a loyal reader of the Bugle and an avid Spider-man-hater, so he wasn't much inclined in the way of opening the door to an irate landlord who'd no doubt be spitting fire.

And it wasn't as if he knew what to say. When he inevitably came face to face with fans and enemies alike, what was he supposed to say? 'Oh yes, I am actually Spider-man, bit of a surprise, huh?'

Peter laughed aloud at that, smiling the first genuine smile in hours. However it quickly faded as his spider sense buzzed insistently in the back of his mind. It was only faint, the danger was several blocks away, but Peter knew he had to go.

He felt the buzz grow stronger as he pulled his mask on and opened his back window, the one that overlooked the cramped garden, and silently told the people in trouble that he was coming, help was on the way.

As soon as the strong tang of acrid smoke mixed with gunpowder hit his nostrils, he knew he was close. Then he rounded a corner and there the scene laid out before him: Three small figures, two of them in black were lined up on the pavement outside Peter's bank, whilst the alarm wailed from inside hauntingly. As he descended, he could pick out the gun one of the bank robbers was holding to a young black woman's head, and closer still he could see with his eagle-like vision the beads of sweat on her forehead as she gasped with fear.

He felt disgusted, horrified, as the thug jabbed the gun into her temple when she moved, hard enough to make her sway on her feet with inertia.

Speeding up, he outstretched one leg and crashed into the other thug who appeared to be standing guard, knocking him clean off his feet and into a wall. The man slumped down a moment later, unconscious.

The guy with the hostage span round instantly, dragging the woman off her feet as he whirled to face the superhero. Spider-man dropped to his favourite crouch, balanced on the balls of his feet, ready to dodge or attack.

The man growled and made the fatal mistake off switching the gun from the woman's temple to Spider-man. In a flash, the gun was in Peter's hands, and the man was groaning on the floor, suffering from a stiletto-heeled kick to the pride courtesy of the hostage. She gave him one more kick for good measure then glanced up and smiled at Spider-man briefly.

"There's more inside-and thanks." She told him quickly, and he simply nodded before springing through the doorway of the bank.

It was a mess inside. Shattered glass littered the floor, and cowering bank-workers crouched behind desks as the gun-happy thieves shouted orders and periodically let off a round of bullets into the ceiling.

Jeez, must be first timers, Peter thought insanely, they'll attract the police from miles around with the noise they're making...

Shaking the random thought off just in time to dodge a few badly-aimed rounds of bullets, he rolled to his feet and yanked the guns out of two of crooks hands, almost laughing at the comical looks it brought to their faces. The remaining three reloaded as quick as a flash, and Peter was hard put to grab their weapons, but after a few well placed 180 degree kicks and a couple of useful web-blinds, he had the group under control.

He tied them all up together in one groaning heap, unconscious or no, and shoved them unceremoniously into a corner for the police. The cowering workers crept out from their hiding places, looks of relief and awe planted on their faces. Peter did a quick check round, making sure no one needed emergency treatment for wounds but they all appeared to be fine. Nodding to himself, he was about to launch himself out the double doors and into the sky when the bank manager called for him to wait. He paused, with the feeling of apprehension that was a result of knowing what was coming. At least partially.

"Wait!" the rather chubby manager panted, running as best he could up to Peter. "I just wanted to thank you!"

"Sure..." Peter tilted his head, surprised at the show of kindness. Perhaps he'd grown cynical in his old age, he mused to himself.

"And... well... I read the paper today-"

Peter felt his heart sink along with the rest of his gratitude.

"-and, well... if it's true... then... I want to offer my gratitude on behalf of NYC, even if they don't show it sometimes, but doing what you takes guts...I heard you have a job, I mean a proper job... and it must be hard to keep your life in order when you do this as well... so... yes... thanks..." The balding man began to stutter under the impenetrable glare of Spider-man's mask, quailing under his gaze. He glanced nervously around him when Spider-man didn't reply for a long while, feeling that somehow he'd crossed the line, and noticed they'd attracted quite a crowd.

Then, "Your welcome."

Said so softly the older man had to stain to hear it, but the two simple words were all he needed to say. In the blink of an eye the superhero was gone, leaving behind an impressed group of bank workers and one very stunned bank manager.

---

Almost halfway across NY, a young man was cowering in fear of his manager. Eddy Brock had been given the fearsome task of breaking some bad news to J. Jonah Jameson, and so far he might as well have gone and booked his own funeral.

"Sir?"

"What?!" Jameson shot back aggressively, as Eddy Brock timidly entered the room. Normally he wouldn't bat an eyelid at telling someone their dog had died, or their house had burned down, normally he would smirk and gloat and irritate the hell out of the other person, but this time he was breaking the bad news to Jameson, and this time he'd screwed up.

"Sir, the authorities have ordered tests on... on the evidence." He said nervously.

"Tests?! Why the hell do we need tests?!" Jameson exclaimed and brandished his cigar at Brock like a sword, dropping ash into his coffee. "You tell them they can stuff their 'tests' up their-"

But Brock never got to be told where they should 'stuff their tests'. "They just want to run some basic checks on the photos, to check... they haven't been faked." Brock interrupted, before Jameson worked himself into an even worse temper.

"Oh," Jameson said, and took a puff on his cigar to buy him some time. "Well, they can have as many damn tests as they want, this photo is 100 pure gold and they know it!" he finished gleefully, always having to have the last word.

Brock nodded and hastily left, leaning against the outside of the door when he'd shut it. He banged his head repeatedly on the wood.

---

Peter swung home slowly, stewing over the little scenario in the bank. He didn't know why he'd admitted to being Peter Parker, except for the guy seemed trustworthy and it was a spur of the moment thing. Besides, what was the point in keeping a wraps on his identity when it was already smeared all over the front page of every newspaper in New York by now? A secret known to one is a secret, a secret known to two is still a secret, a secret known to three is common knowledge, Peter thought grimly. Well, it's known to roughly a million, so what is it now?

He flipped through his open balcony doors and quickly changed before slumping onto his bed with a heavy sigh.

"Hello? Peter?"

Peter shot straight up and bounded over to the door. When he realised the key wasn't in the lock he turned back to search his room, and finally found them on his desk.

"Peter?"

"Coming, Aunt May!" He called back and opened the door. Aunt May immediately wrapped him in a bear hug, almost choking him. He held onto her tightly, closing his eyes and taking comfort from her as one would a mother.

"I'm sorry, dear." She whispered into his ear.

**End of Part 10**

**There ya go! Next chapter up as soon as I've written it. Oh yeah, I couldn't remember the exact wording of the phrase "A secret known to one is a secret, a secret known to two is still a secret, a secret known to three is common knowledge" so I just made it up. :P Also, I have no idea how bid NYC is or the population is, so I made that up too. :P**

**Please read and review! Thankies! Bye! (next time you 'see' me I'll have acquired a cat! :D)**


	11. The Plot Thickens

**Hey! Quite like this chapter, especially the end. I think I write best when I'm sad... anyways please read and review!**

**Oh yeah, thanks to various reviewers who told me that the poplulation of NY is more like 8 million instead of just a milion... sorry about that.**

**It seems like some reviewers are psycic or something, somehow Emily M. Hanson knew Harry would be in this fic... hmm... lol.**

**However, some people seem to be getting confused. When I said 'tests' I meant tests on the photos to check if they're real or not, and Peter has no say in whether they're tested or not since they don't belong to him, it'll happen anyway. Just to clear that up. :)**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 11**

Peter spent the rest of that day and much of the next locked in his room. Aunt May stayed for about an hour, and they had talked about the situation, and Peter got a few things off his chest, for which he was grateful for.

At about 3:30pm the day after, he finally showed signs of life by getting up and fixing himself a drink, muttering about the poor plumbing as he did so. The cold tap always dripped noisily for several hours after it had been used.

He walked slowly over to the balcony doors and looked out between the rotten wood frames at the city. It wasn't very pretty at this time of day, especially when viewed from a shabby second story room with the distinct smell of garlic wafting up from a bakery a few doors down. Peter wrinkled his nose; he'd always hated garlic.

Sighing, he wondered how much longer he could stay in his room with the meagre amount of food stored in his fridge, when a sudden wave of anger at the injustice of his situation swept over him. Why should he stay trapped up in his room, just because everyone now knew of his dual identity? He sure as hell couldn't sit there forever, he had to go out, be himself. Both selves.

With long, determined strides he walked over to the sink and left his cup in there for later washing, and headed over to his wardrobe. Digging through the assortment of clothes, he pulled out a fresh Spider-man costume and quickly slipped jeans and a sweater into his bag. If he hurried he could still make it to Bio-Chemistry.

---

Skidding into the room literally a second before the bell, Peter Parker was the subject of many surprised stares. It was a rare day that he did turn up to class, but on time, and after all the press about him being Spider-man...

Needless to say, he kept his head down and made his way quickly to his seat, avoiding the accusing and curious looks from just about everyone in the room.

He sunk down into the only spare seat, unfortunately quite close to the front and not surprisingly the seat next to it was occupied by Debra Whitman. Peter had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes as he trudged over to her, he could see she was opening her mouth, ready to bombard him with an attack of verbal questions.

Fortunately for Peter, Dr. Connors conveniently entered the room at that moment, and Debra immediately fell silent and sat straight in her seat. However, the mere presence of a teacher didn't deter the rest of the class from chattering away, so Dr. Connors swept a stern gaze over the room. Peter couldn't help but notice how his eyes seemed to linger on him for the longest.

The stern glare of course didn't do much, and Connors had to shout to make himself heard. The class finally settled down to work, and Peter settled down to day dreaming. He tried to concentrate, he really did, but he had too much on his mind, too many other important matters to think about.

The bell rang a dreary hour and a half later, jerking Peter out of his trance. Blinking his eyes back into focus he hurriedly stuffed his books back in his bag and set off for the door and freedom. He noticed Connors was looking at him and so kept to the middle of the crowd pushing through the doorway, but, "Parker! May I have a word with you?"

Peter hesitated for a split second, then decided that him not hearing Connors shout wasn't unbelievable. He quickened his pace down the long corridor and turned out onto the front of the school, hoping to get lost in the crowd.

His hope was unfounded. Another shout rang out across the students just as Peter was about to cross the road to safety, and he knew he couldn't ignore Connors this time. Cringing, he stopped and turned around, planting his best look of polite interest on his face.

"Yes, Dr. Connors?" He said, as the teacher came up to him.

"I noticed you weren't paying much attention today in class." Connors said a little sternly. Peter didn't reply, just avoided his gaze.

"Now, I can understand that, with all the media attention that's been crowding you. That's not what I called you back for. I called you back to apologise." He continued, and Peter's head jerked up with a start, confusion evident in his eyes.

"That said, I still expect that essay by Wednesday." Connors finished, and turned to go, the faintest suggestion of a smile on his face, before disappearing into the teeming crowd.

Peter stood staring in place for a while after, mulling it over.

---

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'THE PHOTOS _WERE_ FAKE AFTER ALL'?"

Eddy Brock wisely put more space between himself and his irate boss. "I don't know... I'm sorry!" He choked out, as Jameson advanced on him, not unlike an angry bull that had just seen red.

"How the HELL did these photos manage to get FAKED?!" He shouted, a vein bulging unpleasantly in his forehead.

"Um, well you see... I... I did get the photos you wanted, honest! I got them...them all! I saw Parker in the...the ... alleyway without his mask, and I took the pictures, just like you asked... I swear!" Brock stuttered and stumbled over his words in the face of Jameson's fury.

"So, tell me, how _did_ they managed to become fake in the journey from that _alleyway_ to my _office_?!" Jameson retorted.

"I...uh... dropped my camera." Brock said very quietly, staring at his shoes like a guilty school kid.

"You what?" Jameson said in a voice of deadly calm.

"I dropped my-"

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" Jameson roared, spraying spit in his photographer's face.

He stared at Brock for a long while, seething, before he said in a deadly whisper, "_Do you realise what you've done_?"

Brock gulped and cowered a little more, his back pressed to the wall.

---

Peter whooped as he swung into his bedroom and landed neatly on the bed. Without bothering to change into more ordinary clothes he cheered again and did a triple back flip to let the happiness out.

On his way home, he'd seen a newspaper. That in itself wasn't particularly astounding, it was what was written on the newspaper that made it so special.

Grinning widely, Peter read through the article again.

'SPIDER-MAN/PETER PARKER PHOTOS FAKED', was the proud headline which Peter gazed at, as if it was his firstborn child.

He hugged the paper close to his chest and looked up at his ceiling. "Thank you God!" He yelled, and, still grinning, he hopped off his bed and changed.

Just as he was pulling the spandex over his head his phone decided to ring. He groaned and struggled with the material, until he finally wrestled himself free, ripping a few stitches in the process. Still, nothing could dampen his good mood.

---

Harry Osborn swilled his bottle of scotch around thoughtfully. He'd been sitting there, drinking scotch and re-reading the newspaper article that was published for that morning for how long he didn't know. All he could think about was revenge, revenge on the best friend who'd betrayed him.

He growled angrily and tossed the screwed up newspaper away, before chugging down the rest of his drink, wiping a sleeve across his mouth and stalking over to the phone.

He threw the decanter in the same direction as the newspaper and ignored the tinkle of breaking glass.

He speedily dialled the number that had come to be so familiar in the past few months, but lately had become foreign to him. He hadn't talked to Peter Parker for weeks, maybe months, he didn't know. Living in a drunken glaze could do that to you.

Sure, Peter had called him on numerous occasions but Harry had never had a reason to call him back, until now, that is.

"Hey, Peter? Yeah, this is Harry." He paused and grinned as his friend gasped.

"Harry? Really? Listen, I'm so-"

"No Peter!" Harry felt a flash of anger that came from bottled up emotions and too much alcohol erupt, and repressed it with difficulty.

"No, just listen." He forced his voice back to politeness. "I may have been too hasty in judging you... and well, would you like to meet up somewhere, to talk?" He gritted out in what he hoped was a friendly tone.

He listened for Peter's reply and smiled when he agreed.

"Great, see ya on that café on Swansea Street tomorrow at say, 1?"

"Sure." Peter replied readily.

"Ok, bye." Harry said abruptly before slamming the phone back into it's cradle. He poured himself another glass of scotch to wash the bitter taste from his mouth.

**End of Part 11**

**Love the Jameson scene and the Harry scene. I wish I could have introduced Harry earlier, I love his character. Anyways, for anyone who actaully cares, I didn't get a cat. Plus my dad's car got stolen, so this hasn't been a very fun weekend. :(**

**Please review! I need cheering up.**


	12. Secrets Kept, Friendships Wept

**Hi! Thank you all so much for reviewing, cheered me up loads! Unfortunately my dads car hasn't been found yet, and the police don't really expect to find it in good condition since it was stolen by joy riders. :(**

**Ok, about the last chapter, I only checked it twice when I usually check it 4-6 times, and it was only yesterday I realised I should have added something in the Harry scene. I'm not gonna change it now though, I've just squeezed it into the next chapter, (which is almost finished), so it may seem a little weird.**

**And WHOO! I got over a hundred reviews! I have realised my ambitions, made true my hopes for the future... ok I'll shut up now. Just a big thanks and a hug to everyone who reviewed!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 12**

Peter set the phone back in it's cradle slowly. He was glad to hear from his friend, but... something had seemed a little, well, _off_ with him. Like he was being held at gunpoint and being forced to spit out the words.

Then he shook his head dismissively, smiling at himself. Of course Harry wouldn't contact him unless he really wanted to. Unless...

Peter's train of thought was interrupted by loud, excited knocking on his door. He peeped through the keyhole and saw a green eye staring at him. Jumping backwards in surprise, he heard musical laughter float through the door and quickly opened it to be bundled into a hug by Mary Jane. She just about knocked them both over with the force of it, and they stumbled backwards onto the bed.

Lying on top of him she leaned back to look at him, with happiness sparkling in her emerald eyes.

"Hey tiger." She said, grinning.

"Hi MJ." He replied, and kissed her softly.

"Guess what?" They both said at the same moment and laughed.

"You go first." She offered and rolled off him to the side, looking up at the ceiling.

"The Bugle published an article this morning regretting their claims about me being Spider-man." He grinned.

She looked over at him, grinning also. "I know," she said, and kissed him. "I saw it on the way over!"

"So what were you coming to tell me?" He put an arm around her shoulders, smiling.

"I got the lead role from that audition." She told him, not being able to hold it in any longer.

"Really?" Peter leaned up on one elbow. At her nod he thought the grin he was sporting would split his face in half. "That's great MJ!" And he jumped off the bed and picked her up, whirling her around. She giggled, and leant on him for support as the world spun when he put her down.

"I don't think I've ever been this happy in my entire life!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is a tough one, but I'm gonna go with the time I found 50 cents on the street." He said with a completely straight face and she rolled her eyes and whacked him lightly on the arm.

"Ow hey!" He complained.

"Stop your whining, we've got some work to do." She instructed, and pulled a massive catalogue out from her bag.

"'Dress For The Occasion'." He read off the cover. "MJ, what's this about?"

"Well, there's obviously gonna be a party for the premiere." She replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Peter groaned.

"But MJ, that's not for at least 6 months!"

"There's nothing wrong with planning ahead." She defended herself, and sat cross legged on his bed. Peter simply rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"Haven't you got some girl friends to do this kinda stuff with?" He pleaded, as she started looking through the jewellery section.

"Yes, but they're not going with me. You are." She answered promptly.

"Always have a reply for everything, don't you?" Peter muttered mock-sulkily.

"Yes I do so stop complaining!" She exclaimed and thrust the magazine under his nose. "Now, maroon or midnight blue?"

---

To Peter's irritation, they spent a lot of his evening poring over pretty dresses and make up, so it was a rather disgruntled Peter Parker that said goodnight to her almost 4 hours later.

The next morning dawned bright and early, unlike a certain photographer-cum-superhero, who groaned and rolled out of bed and onto the floorboards with a loud 'thump'. Getting up, Peter groaned again as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He'd stayed up too late. _Way _too late.

He hopped into the shower and came out looking partway like a decent human being, then went out on a few rounds, just to check the city was in order and blow off some steam. He had a few hours until he was supposed to meet Harry, so he was in no particular rush.

Pausing close to Central Park, he stopped to check to latest headlines. He gasped then a slow smile lit up his face as he read that 'J. Jonah Jameson and Eddy Brock of the Daily Bugle had been asked to step down due to inaccurate claims and fake evidence of the identity of Spider-man.'

He grinned and changed his course of direction, this time heading for the Bugle. He landed on the roof and quickly changed then slid into the ventilation shaft and into the mens' room.

Emerging into the corridor he turned left for the main newsroom and headed in a beeline for Betty, attracting a few surprised glances of recognition as he went.

"Hey." He greeted her, and she span round in her desk chair, clutching her heart.

"Jeez Pete don't do that!" She said, but her face softened.

He just grinned at her. "I see you've 'unquit'." He commented.

"Yeah, how's that for irony, huh? Jameson gets fired and me and Robbie come back. Poor guy." She added unconvincingly.

Peter laughed and sat on the edge of her desk. "I also heard you've been promoted." He said.

"All thanks to Robbie- have you heard he's the new editor in place of Jameson?" Betty said, leaning back in her chair. She seemed a lot more relaxed and less frazzled than usual, Peter noted. Usually she'd be running about in a tizzy, rushed off her feet.

"Yeah, I read it in the paper this morning," he smiled. "That's actually why I came over, to congratulate you two. Is Robbie around?"

"Um, yeah, he's sorting out his new office." She smiled and pointed behind her.

"Thanks, and congratulations. Plan on writing your first piece anytime soon?" Peter tilted his head.

"When the mood strikes," she grinned back. "See ya around, Pete." Betty said as he smiled and made as if to go.

"Sure. See ya!" He called and strode over to Robbie's new door, and knocked.

"Come in!"

Peter tried to push the door open but found it would only open a couple of inches.

"Oh, sorry." Robbie rushed over and moved a stack of papers that were blocking the way.

"Peter!" He said when he could enter the room. "Great to see you." Robbie smiled broadly and motioned to a spare seat.

Peter sat down and smiled back at him. "It's great to see you too. Congratulations on the new job."

Robbie waved a hand about inconsequentially. "It's nothing. I was hoping to run into you, actually, I have some work for you... if you're willing to try it?"

"Really? Sure, I'd love to!" Peter's face lit up. He'd been looking for a job for ages, but never found the time to actually get one.

"What do you say to a full-time job here at the Bugle as a photographer and maybe part-time writer?" Robbie proposed.

"I'd say that sounds great!" Peter responded. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I appreciate it."

"It's fine. Things are gonna be different around here now that tyrant's gone and I'm running things!"

---

Peter strolled into the roomy café on Swansea street lazily. After spending an hour or so on his new assignment, (taking pictures of some ritzy restaurant that was opening), and another hour out patrolling and saving kittens from trees, he was just about ready for a sit down and a cup of coffee. Strong coffee.

The café was full almost to the brim, as harried waiters dashed around and customers poured in by the bucket load, so Peter was pleased to note that less and less people seemed to be taking notice of him, only a couple of heads turned as he headed straight for a seat near to the back, at one of the few remaining tables.

He shrugged out of his jacket and laid it on the back of the chair then fished his isotopes essay out of his back pack. Chewing the end of his pen thoughtfully, he read through what he'd written already and settled down to writing, periodically pausing for a sip of coffee and checking his watch.

On the 13th occasion this happened he realized both that Harry was late and his coffee was stone cold. He made a face at the now bitter taste and glanced hopefully towards the entrance. Still no sign of his friend.

Peter began to worry. What if he didn't show up? Why hadn't he showed up already? Could he be in some kind of trouble?

Frowning, he packed his school work back into his bag and was in the process of pulling on his jacket when the windows burst inwards.

Peter abandoned his jacket and ducked under the table, pulling a nearby old age pensioner with him. He covered his head with his hands as broken shards of glass rained down on the room, and only looked up when his spider-sense slowed to a tingle.

He slowly lifted his head, as everyone around him got to their feet and checked themselves over for injuries. All the tables and chairs had been blown to the back of the room along with the people as they scrambled for cover.

Then Peter heard it. The hauntingly eerie laughter; the laughter of a dead man.

"_Hahahahahaha!_"

He rose to his feet, eyes wide with disbelief and the anger of betrayal as none other than the Green Goblin floated regally through the shattered window on the infamous glider that looked like something out of Star Wars. The customers shrank back even further, eyes full of terror as the Goblin's gaze swept the room.

"Oh Harry, what have you done?" Peter murmured.

**End of Part 12**

**By the way, I haven't seen Star Wars and don't have a clue if the glider actually looks like something out of it, but just go with the flow will ya? ;)**

**Closetfan: Hehee, I like your sense of humour! :P I guess he would have been bugged a lot more... oh well what's done is done. And I guess it really is turning into a book... it's 41 pages on my PC at the moment, without authors notes and such... yay I'm writing a book! :D**

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: Sure you can join the club! I'm sorry to hear about your grandpa. My grandad died a few months ago. :( Also, maybe to one of your comments... ;)**

**Brynn: I realise I should've explained properly about the camera now, like I said I only checked it twice, lol. The film compartment lid sprang open when it was dropped, effectively frying the film. If you remember waaaay back in chapter 4, I wrote Eddy fell over and dropped his camera, I was building up to this from all the way back then, lol. I tried to make that scene subtle so everyone wouldn't point and say: "Those photos are wrecked! Eddy's gonna fake them!" and figure out most of the plot. Guess I didn't make it obvious enough to stick in people's memories. :(**

**Mark C: I would have Peter sue the Bugle but I've got the plot planned out and I don't know who Matt Murdock is... maybe Daredevil? I dunno I haven't seen the movie and never picked up a comic book in my life!**

**ash the dragon: (blushes) aww thankies!**

**Thankies SO MUCH to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it! Thanks. :D**

**End of _insanely_ long authors note. You can review now. ;)**


	13. Familiar Nemesis?

**Heya! Nice big twist in this chapter! Heehee I fooled you all! Mwahahahaha!**

**WHOO! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! 15 TODAY! WHOO! :D This chapters a bit longer because... I'm happy. Yeah. :)**

**Thankies for all the great reviews and sorry I haven't reviewed some peoples new chapters and replied to emails, I've been ill (sick 27 times, but you really didn't wanna know that did ya? :P) so I'm off to do that now. : )**

**BTW, this story is gonna be a lot longer than I thought it would be yesterday, there's now at least 4 more chapters instead of 2. O well.**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 13**

The Green Goblin paused dramatically, his gaze sweeping the room, just like those old movie villains used to, Peter found himself thinking insanely. He glanced about the room twice, then directed the glider to hover upwards, so everyone had to crane their necks to see him.

"Alright," he spoke for the first time, and Peter noticed his voice was deep and growling. "Alright, where's Spider-man? I know you're here, so you might as well save these fine people some time... and pain." He gestured to the cowering customers and grinned wickedly at just the right moment.

Peter gulped and decided not to move, not yet at least. He needed to find some way to sneak away and change... He glanced at the entrance, too far... but the fire exit was behind him, if he could somehow edge close enough...

A young woman suddenly made a mad dash for the exit Peter had his eye on, and before anyone could blink she was lying in a heap on the floor, sobbing and holding her bleeding leg. The razor bat whizzed past Peter's ear and imbedded itself in the wall behind him. "Nobody moves." The Goblin threatened, motioning with another razor bat to illustrate his point.

"Now, where were we?" He said pleasantly, as if they were chatting over a cup of afternoon tea. "Ah yes, come forward now Spider-man or suffer the consequences." The Goblin waited a few seconds, counting to ten under his breath then suddenly zoomed away and out the broken window. The people started to stand up slowly, nervously, and there was relieved laughter as they believed he was gone. Peter knew better. He knew Harry wouldn't give up until he had what he wanted, and what he wanted was Peter's head- separate from his body.

He quickly began to make his way to the nearest exit while the customers began to gather themselves together and begin to leave. They were a couple of metres from the door when, sure enough, they heard the tell-tale whine of an engine. The Goblin had acquired a hostage in the time he'd been gone, and Peter's jaw dropped when he saw who it was...

"Reveal yourself to me now Spider-man or your friend dies." The Goblin said frankly, in a no nonsense sort of way. He waited again, beginning a countdown as before. Harry gasped and choked, clawing at the arm that was holding him, but it didn't budge. The Goblin once again searched the room with his piercing glare, and Peter knew he'd been spotted when his gaze lingered on him and his smirk grew into a grin.

"Any takers? No? Very well." He said, and looking directly into Peter's eyes, began to squeeze on Harry's neck ever so slowly.

"_No!_" Peter hesitated, then yelled and pushed his way to the front, as Harry's eyes watered from the pain and his body began to go limp. "No, let him go!"

"Ah-hah, _there_ you are," the Goblin crowed, and instantly released his grip on Harry, who dropped ten feet weakly to the floor. "Now," he lowered the glider so he and Peter were at eye level. "Lets see. Would you like a slow, torturous death, or... a slow torturous death?" He ticked off on his fingers, then cocked his head and smirked.

"Let's take this somewhere else, Goblin." Peter said quietly, not prepared to let innocent people get hurt, yet again, because of him.

"Goblin?" He looked surprised then threw his head back and cackled as if greatly amused. Then his laughter abruptly stopped and he flipped up the golden eyepieces to his fixed mask, so Peter could look into his eyes and see the glint of obsession and madness in their murky depths. "I am not the Green Goblin, fool. I am _Chaos_!" He announced then rose up into the air with his arms spread wide, as if expecting the crowd to applause. Only of course, they didn't. They wouldn't even if they could, since they were scared stiff.

"_You're not going anywhere!_" The people jumped at the sudden outburst as Chaos whipped round and glowered at a woman and her three year old son who'd been trying to sneak past him to the door and freedom. Under his watch they scuttled back to the safety of the crowd and the little boy's sniffle grew into a sob. She hoisted him into her arms and hurried to the back.

When they were back in place, Chaos blocked all exits. He used the gadgets on his glider including machine guns and pumpkin bombs to collapse the floor above them over the entrance and fire exit, and everyone sheltered their heads and noses with their hands as bits of mortar and bricks showered down on them, followed by a billowing cloud of dust.

Coughing, Peter straightened up, just in time to receive a blow to the head that knocked him off his feet and into a table.

Staggering to his feet and still hacking on the dust, he crouched down and scurried across the room to a clearer patch of air as the smoke settled around him. Pausing with his back to the wall, he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and watched the two glowing yellow eyes seem to rise out of the mist towards him. Then the mist cleared and Peter saw what looked suspiciously like the same three-pronged instrument the Goblin had tried and failed to use on him pointed at his eye. He gasped and ducked to the side just in time as the daggers were driven into the wall behind him and the glider's engines whined as Chaos circled off.

He came back again laughing madly, the two nozzles on the front of the glider open and spitting out bullets. Peter was forced to display evidence of his unique powers to avoid them all, something he had known was coming but been reluctant to do. There were thirty or more witnessed in the once swanky restaurant to run off to the police or newspaper as soon as the fight was over, whatever the outcome. Though, Peter supposed if he was dead, it wouldn't matter so much.

He jerked himself out of those morose thoughts to dodge a round of bullets which instead smacked into the rubble as Peter performed a nifty half-backflip, half-dodge and the Goblin roared in frustration. Peter leaped up in a somersault to miss the next hail of ammunition, and he clung to the wall halfway up, getting a glimpse of the dumbstruck crowd between attacks.

For the third time Chaos swooped past on his glider with a round of bullets that narrowly missed Peter, and he decided it was time to go offensive. As it was he was a sitting duck, just waiting to be plucked from life. He dropped to the floor, threw off his cumbersome jacket to allow him to move freely and changed his stance. Instead of waiting for Chaos to come to him, he carefully aimed his webbing and clogged up the left engine. It spluttered and flung the glider into a spiral, and just as Chaos was getting it back under control, Peter shot again and the whole thing cut out.

Chaos jumped off angrily before the glider could crash into the ground and skid to a halt at the feet of one of the spectators several metres from where it initially landed, churning up the floor as it did so.

He seemed suddenly a lot less menacing and more clumsy on the ground in place of gracefully soaring through the air, and as Peter successfully blocked and counterattacked a punch he felt his confidence grow. Chaos seemed to be less of a threat than the original Goblin had been, he was slightly weaker and certainly less dignified. Peter watched him try to use an 180 kick and noted that he was also very ungainly.

The blow was way off target to start with, so Peter easily ducked the high kick and while Chaos was off balance and on one leg, Peter hit him squarely in the chin, a move which was becoming a favourite of his. He thought he heard someone in the crowd cheer and almost smiled. That was, before Chaos pounced to his feet and punched him in the sensitive area between his stomach and lungs. Peter staggered backwards, clutching his solar plexus and coughing. Chaos didn't wait for him to recover. He advanced quickly and punched him in the jaw, then picked him by his neck, choking him just like he had Harry.

"No." Peter gasped out, feeling his windpipe slowly being crushed. He tugged on the arm that was holding him, but he was too weak.

Chaos laughed. "Pitiful." He sneered, so close to him Peter could feel his breath on his face.

Peter coughed, once, twice, then saved up the last of his fading strength and kicked out with his legs. Yes! He'd struck, and hard too, Chaos released his grip and staggered and Peter landed heavily on his feet. It was only when he'd gathered his bearings that he saw Harry standing behind the monster with a chair leg still raised in his hands.

"Do not," Harry said firmly. "Mess with me."

Chaos growled angrily, clutching his head as the world spun around him, and knew he couldn't win the fight like this, with a pounding head, a small enclosed space, without his glider and he was outnumbered to boot. He suddenly swiftly pressed numerous buttons on his forearm and the glider spluttered to life. Chaos had left the engines on, melting the webbing all that time. Before anyone could do anything, the glider had swooped past and he'd jumped on, a little haphazardly, thrown a high power pumpkin bomb to clear an exit and was gone, his glider smoking furiously.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief and leant against the wall, closing his eyes. The room was silent. Everyone was recovering both physically and mentally from the shock of seeing what looked like the Green Goblin alive once more, and of course everybody was surprised to find the Bugle's previous claims about Peter Parker being Spider-man were true.

Harry dragged a chair over and shakily sat down on it, abandoning the chair leg. Peter took in a deep breath then let it out slowly before opening his eyes.

"Ok," he said, trying his best to be assertive, "Is everyone alright?" After a murmur of assent passed through the shell-shocked crowd, Peter nodded. "The police will be here any second, so..." He trailed off and walked across to where he'd last seen his backpack, leaving the coming confrontation with the witnesses until last, as usual. But they addressed him first.

"Excuse me?" Peter turned, bag in hand, and saw a young woman with a wide eyed toddler in her arms. "I... I just wanted to say... thanks and... we... well, _I_... at least, won't tell anyone what I saw today..."

Peter smiled slightly, then other people stepped up behind her and a chorus of "Me too!"s rang through the room, and Peter's smile grew.

"Thank you," he said quietly, when everyone in the room, not including Harry, had pledged their silence. A couple were reluctant and a couple even seemed a little guilty, but Peter put it down to being proved wrong on their previous theories that Spider-man was a menace. "It means a lot to me." He added sincerely, then everyone jumped as a voice amplified by a loudspeaker said, "Stay where you are. A police team will be coming in to sweep for evidence."

Peter's expression grew alarmed. He was the only one with serious injuries, and his torn shirt blew freely in the breeze to expose his suit underneath.

"Here." A voice said quietly in his ear and before he knew what was happening he was being shoved into a huge brown trench coat that would certainly hide the cuts and bruises, and most importantly, the Spider-man costume he hadn't had time to change into.

The search was quick, the police didn't ask too many questions as it was fairly obvious what had happened and everyone responded instantly: "All I saw was Chaos crash through the window, grab a hostage and then Spider-man came and fought him off." The inspector simply nodded dully upon the 25th time he received the automated reply, and moved on to questioning the hostage. Peter shuffled closer and strained his ears to listen to Harry's interrogation, while at the same time trying to answer questions from a burly officer with too much moustache.

"Alright sonny, you're free to go." Peter heard but didn't process, too intent on the conversation that was happening next to him.

"You say you have no idea why, uh, 'Chaos', chose you as a hostage?"

Harry simply shook his head fervently; a little too fervently.

"And you saw Spider-man swing in before the ceiling was collapsed, then leave, chasing 'Chaos'?"

Harry hesitated for a split second, not long enough to be noticeable but Peter picked up on it. Then he nodded.

"Ok, you can go," the inspector sighed then called to his team. "Alright! Wrap it up boys!"

Harry looked around then spotted Peter. He walked by his friend's elbow until they were safely out of the building and ear shot, then in a low voice, frequently looking about him, said: "I need to talk to you. Now."

**End of Part 13**

**I don't often write fight scenes so sorry if it sucks.**

**Sorry for the corny 'Chaos' name. Couldn't think of anything else. :P I also put a clue as to what will happen in the next chapter, it's very subtle so anyone who can spot can have a cookie!**

**Amber: Whoa, I didn't think people would take so much offence to me never having seen Star Wars. First off, I lied, I've seen about 15 mins of Attack of the Clones, second off, I didn't like it. That's my opinion and I'm entitled to it. . Thanks for reviewing!**

**ash the dragon: Yay thanks! I'll go check out your deviantart gallery too, but what name do you go by there? You just said 'my gallery is', then didn't put anything. Don't worry about your grammar, you're very good at English! I'm soooo bad at german. :(**

**Kirayoshi: Venomous? No. Though I'll think you'll be very surprised when... ok that would give away the surprise!**

**Mark C: Whoever said anything about Green Goblin II? -grin-**

**The various people who like a bit-o-romance: I may be able to squeeze in another couple of MJ/peter scenes...**

**Everyone else who reviewed: Thanks a bunch! :D -big hug-**

**Anyone who's in America: Who did you vote for? (that's not someone's screename, btw, I'm talking to all of you Americans! Just to be clear ;) )**

**Please read and review, if you do, you can have a slice of birthday cake! :D Remember to guess the clue for an extra cookie!**


	14. The Pact

**Heya! I'm so sorry I haven't updated for almost 3 weeks, but I had writers block with the last half of this chapter and then went all wacky with te rebuilding and the virus etc. Sorry! Please read and review!**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 14  
****  
**"Harry," Peter started, as he was led away from the hustle and bustle of the restaurant. "_What just happened_?"

But Harry just shook his head fervently and dragged Peter into the nearest quiet alleyway he could find. He let go of Peter then quickly peered round the corner of the alley to check no one was listening, then began speaking in a low voice.

"Ok, we're safe here." Harry sighed in relief and seemed to want to leave it a that, but at Peter's annoyed frown he reluctantly explained.

"That… was Chaos." He said hesitantly, fiddling nervously with his hands for something to do.

Peter sighed in frustration. "Gee, really? I wouldn't have been able to te-" He practically growled sarcastically, but Harry hastily cut him off.

"Also known as Eddy Brock." Harry pronounced meaningfully, and watched Peter gape wordlessly.

"Brock?" Peter finally choked out. "But how? _Why? _I mean, I know he didn't particularly _like_ me, but-"

"Money; and power." Harry stated simply. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, feeling a migraine building. There was silence for a while as Peter realised Harry needed some time. Then, "Peter? What would you say if I told you I sold my soul to the devil?" Harry cautiously opened his eyes to look at his friend, but didn't dare hold his gaze. The silence seemed to well up and surround him as he awaited Peter's verdict.

Peter quietly said after a while, "I would say, what could possibly drive someone like you to do such a thing?"

"Hate can do a lot of things." Harry replied in a whisper, not wanting Peter to hear the answer, full of shame. He fiddled with the corner of his shirt and stared at the ground.

"Do you… hate me?" Peter asked tentatively, fearing the answer yet craving the knowledge at the same time.

"I… used to." Harry admitted. "Now though, now I'm not sure what I feel. Who I am- what I've done…"

Harry paused to take a deep breath then blurted it all out. "Peter, I sold the remains of my father's super soldier formula to Jameson. Along with the glider, suit and weaponry." He paused and surveyed the horrified expression on Peter's face, feeling the guilt well up inside him.

"But, there was only a third or so of the formula left over. You know Stromm was murdered?" Harry continued at Peter's nod. "I think my father pressured him into helping test the formula on himself, but then Stromm panicked and shut down the chamber before all of the formula was released, effectively signing his own death warrant" Harry sighed, feeling instantly better, like a great weight had been released of his chest that had been slowly suffocating him. "So, Brock shouldn't be as strong as the Goblin was… or as… insane." He finished in a whisper, and slid down the wall to sit on the floor with his head in his hands. Peter somehow knew it was the first time he'd actually admitted that his father had been the Green Goblin, perhaps now he could come to accept it.

Peter stood for a while, digesting the information and trying not to panic or strangle his friend. Then he swallowed down the anger and bitter taste in his mouth, and sat down next to Harry, arms resting on his knees. It wasn't the time to flay Harry for what he'd done, it was the time to figure out what to do next, and besides, it seemed Harry had gone through enough trauma for one day.

"There's more." Harry said, so quietly Peter wondered if he really had said anything at all. "Jameson sent two reporters to the café to cover the story, so his newspaper would get the scoop. You remember the red-head with the brown suit? And her partner, the big guy with glasses and bad hair style?" Harry looked up.

Peter nodded slowly. "Er… one had a clipboard or something? Yeah, but they promised not to say anything…" He trailed off hopefully, frowning in deep thought.

Harry snorted in reply.

"You don't think it was sincere?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Honestly, Peter, you're so gullible. If they really meant what they said I'll eat my shoe." Harry said in a matter of fact way.

Peter snorted at that, grinning despite the situation. "You'll eat your _shoe_?" He repeated dubiously, looking faintly amused.

"I don't have a hat." Harry explained, deadly serious.

"Ah," Peter said as if it was perfectly normal. "Well, I think you're too pessimistic about humanity. I prefer to believe in the best in people, I don't think they'll tell." Said Peter with complete confidence.

"Yeah, but you also believed Dr. Connors wouldn't give you an F for that essay on atoms." Harry shot back, and smirked slightly.

Peter smiled indulgently and didn't reply, simply glad that he'd got his friend to smile for the first time in what must have been months. It seemed they had come to a somewhat shaky truce; at least until they could figure out a way to defeat Chaos. Then whatever issues they had between them could be resolved, and hopefully, Peter thought, they could start up their old friendship. He knew their bond would never be the same again, but at least they could try.

---

Peter swung home shortly after and Harry called a taxi to be taken back to his mansion, his friend having declined the offer of a lift in preference to blowing off some steam.

He thought deeply as he swung, and eventually became so lost in his thoughts that swinging ceased to need his attention. He simply shot out a web- '_thwip!'_- held onto it until it reached the end of its ark then shot out another, the motion turning to a gentle rhythm. Before he knew it he was outside his balcony, with no idea how he'd got there so fast. Then again, time flies when you're having fun, Peter thought sarcastically.

He wearily eased the French doors, which badly needed oiling, open, and was about to collapse on his bed, but there happened to be another person occupying it.

He laid down next to MJ anyway and groaned. She poked him. "Hi tiger," she said brightly. "I've been waiting for you for _ages._ What're you moaning about today then?" She grinned and rolled over onto her stomach, her head propped up on one elbow, she looked at him mischievously. "A kitten scratch you when you were rescuing it from a tree? Or did Dr. Connors give you another lecture?"

He groaned again. "I never got to Dr. Connors' class, and I was too busy fighting the neighbourhood's latest attempt at a super-villain to be worried about cats stuck up trees, thank you very much." He told her. All trace of her flippancy instantly vanished, and she looked at him with concern.

"What?! Why, what happened? I thought you were meeting Harry-" a look of dawning suddenly darkened her expression and she said softly, "Oh no… you don't mean…?" She didn't dare voice her fears.

"No," Peter said heavily. "Harry wasn't the villain himself, but he did play a rather large part in his creation." He partly explained.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and then fixed a questioning gaze upon him. "Harry… made a deal with Jameson… he sold the last of the super soldier formula in exchange for my identity being revealed. Jameson sent two undercover reporters to capture the fight, but Harry's plan backfired, and Chaos, more commonly known as Eddy Brock, turned on him. We don't know if Jameson planned that part or not, but we do know that no one is safe while that maniac is still on the loose." Peter finished.

"Oh my God." MJ whispered, her eyes darting about as she took it all in. Then she suddenly looked at Peter fearfully. "The reporters- they won't-?"

"No, they promised their silence." Peter cut in.

"And you believe them?" MJ asked doubtfully.

Peter gave her an odd look, then said disbelievingly, "I am the only one who's even remotely optimistic in this city?"

---

MJ left around an hour later, after much discussion about Chaos and Harry. She'd promised Peter she would ring her old friend and ex-boyfriend, and see if they could perhaps start to patch things up a bit, but primarily to see if he had any ideas as to what was to be done about the newest super-villain on the block.

Peter had given her a grateful look, at the same time saying the perfunctory, "Are you sure?" Which had come to be part of what society considered good manners. 'And you're nothing without good manners', Peter reflected on the days when that had been Aunt May's favourite saying and sighed wistfully. Things had been so much simpler, so much easier then, he wondered why things had had to change. Now Aunt May had taken up his late Uncle's favourite saying as well as her own, as if that would somehow make up for the lack of his presence. He didn't like change much.

He was jerked out of his morose musings by the wail of a siren, and quickly stripped to his costume to follow the cry.

Soon after another siren joined the wail, then another, and another, until the screeches were all jumbled together in a cacophony of sound. Peter winced as he swept low over what seemed to him a particularly loud police car, and had to stop himself from letting go of his web to cover his ears. He sighed in relief when the police finally turned their sirens off, and slowed. It left an odd ringing noise in his ears that at first drowned out the screams of several terrified people, but his hearing quickly came back, and along with it a certain dark green figure on a glider.

Peter gasped and darted out of the way of a pumpkin bomb which exploded painfully close to his ear. He let go of the webline and dropped a few feet under Chaos, catching a glimpse of the wreckage the villain had already caused. A once beautifully sculpted museum was burning fiercely, and every now and again the Saturday morning shoppers had to push and shove out of the way of a falling flaming beam.

He did a double take as he looked across from there and his eyes fell on a building which seemed to have been taken apart by Chaos piece by piece, but then he noticed the huge demolition crane behind it. The driver was in the process of hauling his rather large butt out of the cabin and legging it across the small mountains of soil and bricks to safer terrain.

Suddenly Peter was forced forward, and for a moment he slipped down the web but he quickly regained his balance and twisted round to see Chaos plant his muddy foot back on the glider, grinning madly. Peter could already tell it was going to be one of those days.

**End of Part 14**

**Ok, do you like or not like? Have you got any advice on how to write a massive fight scene? I really need help!**

**IMPORTANT: I changed a bit of the movie, you know how Stromm shut down the chamber early? Well what if all that there was left of the formula was that canister Norman had started to use. Just use your imagination on this one please, forget that Harry found a room full of the stuff in Spider-man 2, in this story he only found that canister that had already been used.**

**spyder616: I like Harry too much to make him insane and evil. :P Thanks for saying happy birthday! And your not old... even though I don't know how old you are, but anyways. ;)**

**PureEvilOne: Hobgoblin? I didn't make Chaos the Hobgoblin because he was Harry wasn't he? And Chaos isn't, he's my character! All mine! Mwahahaha! (ok, he's only partly mine... I think...)**

**Padfoot: Lol, thanks for the review.**

**Jenn: Yay you got it right! Well done! You can have a cookie. :P**

**Emily M. Hanson: Thank yee kindly for yee review. :P**

**LordLanceahlot: Your wish is my command. ;)**

**sma: Yes, "I am only 15". No you're not old and inadequate, even though I wouldn't know since I don't have a clue who you are, but oh well.**

**Angie King: Thanklie very muchlies for the reviewly!**

**Amber: That's ok, lol. Sometimes it's hard to tell if someone's joking or not when it's in type. Thankies for your review!**

**Kirsten-B: A sequel? Um, you do realise there's 14 more chapters and I haven't posted the last 2 yet right? :) Thankies anyways!**

**Mark C: Yep, you got it right. Well done and here's a cookie! :)**

**DiabloDude1: Thanks, Kerry should have won ( you didn't see that and no offense to any Bush fans), and did you email me the next chapter of Holding Out For A hero? I didn't get it if you did. :(**

**Meepie: Thankies! And don't eat that cake too fast! ;)**

**YLJedi: Thankies! I thought the fight scene sucked actually. lol.**

**ashthedragon: Ok thanks, I'll go check out your account at deviantart!**

**AA Battery: In a word- no. But you can have a cookie anyways because it was a good guess! :)**

**Padfoot n'Moony: Well, here I am, updating. :P**

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: Thankies! Well if _that_ made you happy then you'll like the next couple of chapters! ;) Yay you're 15 too! Judging from the reviews everyone seems to be older than me. :(**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'll try to update soon!**


	15. Encore

**This chapter was so incredibly hard to write! It's the most difficult thing I've ever had to write, so that's why it's late, plus it's longer than all the other chapters, so enjoy! There's only one more chapter left! :(**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 15**

Chaos circled off again, casually chucking razor bats left and right. Peter began to round up as many as he could, but it was hard when you were blocking a punch that would shatter your jaw with one hand and shooting webs all over the place with the other.

He had to abandon his attempts to web up the bats eventually and focus his attention on Chaos, leaving the small white and blue dots below that were police cars to deal with the weapons.

"A few toys too much for you to handle, ittle wittle Petey?" Chaos taunted in a baby voice. Peter felt his blood pressure rise, but bit down on the urge to stomp his foot like a little kid and demand to go home, instead channelling his anger into something more positive.

He swung down towards Chaos at the speed of light and managed to glance his jaw as he swooped past, but it didn't do much damage. Chaos simply got even angrier and flew after Peter to wreak his revenge on him.

Oops, Peter thought. Ok, mental note number 347, do not get Chaos mad. He finished the thought just in time to duck a razor bat, and a nasty right jab. Instead, he received a blow to the ribs that made him catch his breath and his eyes watered; never mind what Harry had said about Chaos not being on the same level as the Goblin, his aching ribs were telling him otherwise. He tumbled from his web and quickly caught himself with another.

Still smarting from his wounds, he decided to retreat a little and play defensive for a while. He aimed for the nearest rooftop and rolled onto the gravely surface, clumsily trying to shield his chest as stones flew up everywhere. As quickly as he could he got to his feet into a ready stance, then was surprised to find Chaos was nowhere in sight. He frowned and turned a full circle, but still came up with nothing.

"Hmmm. Perhaps he got tired and gave up." Peter said to himself hopefully, but somewhere inside he knew he was wrong. He shot out a web and started swinging, singing quietly for his self-amusement, "Chaos? _Chaaaaaaos? _Here doggy doggy!"

He was right about being wrong. Chaos was a couple of hundred metres away, terrorizing the pedestrians on the street below who'd stopped to gape at the super villain and superhero duke it out. Diving off the edge of the roof he'd briefly stopped at, Peter's heart sank to somewhere around his toes as he caught sight of a flash of red hair amongst the many blondes and brunettes.

Mary Jane.

He swore angrily, before shooting out two webs and shooting himself to the scene. It was only when he got closer he realised that he was right outside the theatre MJ was scheduled to rehearse at that afternoon after a bit of shopping, and sure enough, he spotted at least five heavy shopping bags in her hands.

Chaos turned as Peter came nearer, his attention momentarily off harassing the crowd by swooping down with the blades of his glider out and ready, before flying back up at the last moment. It had a wonderful effect on the various shoppers, they screamed and pushed and generally just caused havoc.

MJ suddenly spotted Chaos looking directly at her. She froze, and Peter could have throttled her. "_No_ MJ! Run!" He cried, and she broke from her trance, her eyes briefly flicking to meet Peter's before darting back to Chaos and his leer. She sensibly decided to take her boyfriend's advice and dumped her shopping on the floor before pegging it to the nearest building whilst trying not to knock anyone over.

It was too late. Chaos advanced on her quickly, carving a pathway through the crowd, and swung her up onto the glider as easily as if he'd been waiting for just the perfect moment. Screaming, she tugged in vain at the huge arm pinning her to his side, tears of pain and fear leaking from her eyes.

Peter's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he flung himself at Chaos, seeing red. Nobody messed with his MJ. Not even whackos in Halloween costumes. Better make that _especially_ not whackos in Halloween costumes.

As he soared to her almost in slow motion, MJ managed to twist round a little in his grasp, and without ceremony, kicked him where it hurt. Chaos yelped despite the armour, almost dropping her, and before Peter was even five metres from him, Chaos switched his grip, and, holding MJ suspended only by her neck, let her drop after a second of suspense.

"_Bitch!" _Chaos yelled, and couldn't resist watching for a few seconds as MJ tumbled, screaming, to her death.

Peter's scream mingled with MJ's, and he changed direction from forwards to downwards, hurtling after her with startling speed. He used the same trick he'd pulled on Aunt May to bring himself closer, shooting out two webs to her stomach and flinging himself to her. He didn't want to watch; MJ was nearly a metre away from becoming a pancake on the road, but he forced his eyes open and gasped as his hand closed on her wrist. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and quickly shot out another web with his spare hand, flying to safety. Dropping her off back with the rest of the crowd, he then whipped round to find where Chaos had got to.

It turned out Chaos was busy… doing some demolition work? Peter shrugged mentally and swung cautiously to the scene, alighting on a digger; nearby he was leaning into the cab of a huge demolition crane with a massive, spherical weight on the end of a long shining chain, that Peter presumed would wreck any building pretty quickly from the look of it.

As of yet the villain hadn't noticed him, being preoccupied with getting the crane to work for whatever reason he wanted it to. Peter saw and took the opportunity to swing down and slam into an unwary Chaos with his feet, knocking him clean off his glider and into the mud a few feet below.

"_That_ was for MJ!" Peter yelled triumphantly. He landed a couple of metres away and the glider span off and imbedded itself into a mound of gravel, spraying the chips of granite everywhere; Peter shielded his head with his arms and the gathering crowd emitted a few girlish screams as they were sprayed.

Chaos shook his head to clear the dizziness from it, and quickly began to finger the pad on the inside of his wrist that controlled the glider, but he was too slow. Peter ran and slammed a punch into the side of his head which knocked him over again, onto his back, sliding in the mud.

He lay there, a sly grin fixing his face that Peter couldn't see as he advanced on him, and for a moment Peter thought he'd given up, until, at the last second Chaos swung his legs out and kicked Peter's shins. He crumpled to the floor next to Chaos, who pounced to his feet.

"That," Chaos growled low in his throat, "Was for being a goddamn pain in the ass." He finished dryly.

Peter groaned and rolled to his feet, wincing as a stab of pain shot up his legs. Damn, that hurt, he thought, and once more his estimation of the enemy rose slightly.

"Yeah?" Peter retorted, "Well it hasn't exactly been fairytales and cotton candy knowing you _either_!" On the last word Peter swung his leg up and kicked Chaos in the ribs, followed by a sharp punch to the face and a spin kick to his neck. He staggered backwards under the blows, the first one having taken him so completely unaware that he didn't have time to block the others. Then he gathered the wits to duck the next kick, and Peter's leg came down on air.

He gasped as Chaos returned the favour and sent him reeling back with a nasty kick, but landed on his feet with a squelch in the mud by performing a neat back flip. The fight was on, and for a while it looked like Peter was winning, at least the crowd seemed to think so; they cheered and clapped whenever Peter got the upper hand and booed when Chaos punched him in the ribs.

That was, until Chaos, suddenly fed up with fighting, hopped on his glider and left Peter in the dirt. He flew up, back to the crane, swaying a little, and flicked the 'on' switch with one fluid motion. A few metres above his head, the chain shook and the gears clanked and the wrecking ball slowly started swinging back and forth. Peter landed on the yellow metal a few seconds later, clinging to the vertical surface with his toes and fingertips. Chaos spared him a glance and growled before hurriedly flicking a few buttons, apparently randomly, until the great metal ball above them began to swing faster, it's path becoming a huge circle over their heads.

Peter reached up to switch it off, not sure why Chaos wanted it on in the first place but figuring it couldn't be for a good reason, but Chaos gave him a punch on his nose that made it rather hard to concentrate. His hand darted back to his nose, which had started to bleed, and Chaos took the opportunity to barrel into Peter and knock him back to the floor. He groaned and began to sit up as Chaos swooped down low again and bundled him roughly onto the glider. Peter tried to stay awake and focused, but he was losing a lot of blood. Did nosebleeds usually last this long? He thought hazily. Or hurt this much?

Fighting down the nausea, he found himself dumped on the top of a building, cackling sounding in his ears. He stood up a little shakily, then suddenly ducked back down. The huge metallic sphere whistled over his head not a second too early and he breathed a sigh of relief, thanking his spider sense, and watching as Chaos flew above the huge chain to avoid it. Peter didn't stand up again, instead crawling to the edge of the building and looking over.

He could see the small multi-coloured dots that were people. He looked harder and noticed they seemed to be running away from something, faint screams reaching his ears as they stumbled over each other to get away from… what? Squinting, he saw there was a row of orange dots along the fence that separated the public from the building site, a row of strange flashing dots that he quickly came to realise were pumpkin bombs as one exploded. Strangely, it didn't set off the others, and Peter was just beginning to get into a deep train of thought about what type of explosives Chaos must be using, and if he could perhaps 'borrow' one to study, when he a fist connected with the back of his head.

"Oomph!" He bit his lip as his face was forced against the cold metal framework of the building, and felt copper-tasting blood fill his mouth.

Rolling over, he blinked up at Chaos, who had lost the glider. "Speak of the devil," Peter slurred, and flung his legs out wildly. Luckily, the blow connected with Chaos' already damaged knees, and the villain stumbled back out of range, trying not to topple over as he yelled in pain.

Peter rolled clumsily to his feet, coming dangerously close to the edge of the thin beam. He caught his breath and tried to ignore the horrible sensation of blood soaking into his mask. Taking a deep breath, he felt his head clear slightly, but the pain intensified. At least it had woken him up.

Without too much skill, he walked shakily along the narrow beam, as Chaos did the same but in the opposite direction. Suddenly they were upon each other in close combat, and soon it was hard to tell who'd thrown the punch and who'd blocked it, until Peter fell to his knees. Laughing, Chaos kicked him in the face and the superhero collapsed. Peter's vision swam as he laid there, gathering his energy to escape or, or do something… anything… at least, that was what he told himself. Yes, everything would be alright and he'd marry Mary Jane on a hill top somewhere like heroes always did in the end, as long as he got up.

Groaning, he forced himself to begin to sit up, when suddenly Chaos helped him. Peter felt his airways restrict as two cold hands clamped on around his neck, and soon he was being pulled to a standing position, except for the small fact that his feet were dangling in the air.

Chaos brought Peter nearer to his face and growled in his ear, "You see that huge metal circle over there?" And without waiting for an answer he told him, "That's gonna be the last thing you see on this earth as it comes speeding towards you, _hero._" He spat.

Peter had just enough spunk and presence of mind to gasp out, "It's called a sphere, _genius._"

Chaos removed one hand from Peter's neck and ripped off the mask in reply, letting the red material float gently down to the mud below. There was a sudden rise in noise from the people below as they gasped and pointed at a safe distance from the bombs.

Then Chaos marched along the beam and onto a raised section, with Peter still held high in the air, directly in the path of the wrecking ball. The glider hovered nearby as if it were some kind of gruesome pet, waiting for its masters instructions, and Peter quickly guessed that Chaos aimed for Peter to be killed instantly by the ball, then zoom away on his glider before he himself could become a decoration on the side of the crane.

_Great, _Peter thought sarcastically, _I doubt this will be the first or last time I'll be held in front of a massive ball of death by a lunatic in a goblin costume who can't differentiate between the 2D and 3D. Lucky me._

He scrabbled desperately for purchase on the fingers choking him, but it was not forthcoming, and within seconds little stars had begun to circle his vision, bursting sporadically, then came the darkness that was closing in from the sides, and last but not least he saw the huge ball of doom headed straight for him…

It was Chaos' last minute nerves that saved him. Not satisfied that he would definitely be able to get away in time, he adjusted his grip. This fatal mistake resulted in Peter breathing in a small portion of air and sweet, sweet oxygen, but it was enough. He gathered his energy and focused every part of his being into swinging his heel back and caving Chaos' knee in. From then on, events moved at a rapid pace. The super-villain yelped, like a little girl in Peter's opinion, and moved his arm just enough for Peter to twist round, taking a great lungful of air as he did so and punch Chaos in the jaw, nearly knocking his head completely off with the force of it. The villain reeled and Peter wildly kicked himself free of his grasp, diving off the edge of the building only a second before the wrecking ball shot past, the wind whistling in his ears.

Peter made a desperate lunge for the side of the building to stop his fall, and his fingertips brushed the edge of it, and stuck. Gravity caused his body to slam into the side of the building, and he coughed as his already bruised ribs flared with pain. His heart thudding in his throat, he winced when he heard the sickening '_crunch_' of metal on metal, that signalled Chaos hadn't been so lucky.

A silence punctuated by the random explosions of the pumpkin bombs below fell, and Peter willed himself to pull himself up. He reached up with his right hand, clinging to the building with only his fingertips and toes, and slowly, he climbed up a few feet. He took it step by step, timing his motions to the rhythm of his shaky breathing. He was almost at the top when his injuries caught up with him, Peter felt his heart rate slow, the adrenaline in his bloodstream diminishing, his vision darkening. He reached up with one hand to try to pull himself back up, he was _almost_ there, but it was too late, he was too weak. His eyes closed and he fell the fifty feet Chaos had fallen only seconds earlier to lie beside him in the mud, MJ's scream of horror echoing strangely in his ears as he tumbled through the harsh air.

---

MJ's throat was raw, her nose was blocked and her eyes were red and puffy. She'd spent the last ten minutes sniffling in the waiting room of Queen's Hospital and drinking cups of diluted mud that was labelled hot chocolate to pass the time.

Thirty-one minutes ago Spider-man, a.k.a Peter Parker had defeated Chaos, thirty minutes ago Spider-man a.k.a Peter Parker had fallen fifty feet off a building and fifteen minutes ago Spider-man a.k.a Peter Parker had been loaded into an ambulance and taken to the nearest hospital, a.k.a, here.

And for the last ten minutes MJ had drunk ten cups of diluted mud while worrying about her boyfriend whom they wouldn't let her see, and biting her nails in between drinking the cups of diluted mud. She hadn't bitten her nails since she was a little girl, when her father used to hit her mother after one of his drinking binges with the lads down at the pub. She'd been so good, not biting her nails all these years, so why did bad things happen to good little girls?

She sniffed quietly and wiped her eyes again, then leaned her head back against the head rest and closed her eyes. As she did so, a cacophony of noise assaulted her ears and bright light attacked the inside of her eyelids. Her own scream echoed even louder above the sound of pumpkin bombs exploding one after another.

_The light disappeared quickly, revealing a horrifying scene. MJ felt her legs move of their own accord and suddenly she was running, screaming and running for all she was worth to Peter, her Peter who was lying broken in the mud. She was focused on her task, nothing else mattered, nothing else existed but her and Peter…_

_An explosion to her left suddenly knocked her off her feet. The last pumpkin bomb she hadn't noticed._

_That was why nobody had run beside her, she thought faintly as she glanced back and saw the many people standing there shocked. Stumbling to her feet, she ignored the blood running down her cheek and carried on running, staggering and slipping about in the mud, she finally sank down besides Peter._

He's dead_. That was the first thought that sprang to her mind, but as angry tears pricked her eyes, his head moved towards her, and eyelashes fluttered against a deathly white complexion._

"_MJ?" The lips red with blood parted a little and she laughed a nervous laugh of joy and relief._

"_I'm here," she said softly. "I'm here." But as the words escaped her lips, Peter's eyes closed and he faded into unconsciousness._

"_Peter, I'm here!"_

"_I'm here!"_

"…_.here…"_

"Miss. Watson? Are you here?"

MJ jerked awake to see a nurse bending down in front of her, looking concerned.

"I'm sorry to wake you Miss. Watson, but-"

"Peter! Is he OK? How long has he been out of surgery?" She interrupted eagerly, blinking the sleep from her eyes and pushing the memories of her living nightmare to the back of her mind.

The nurse stared at her for a second, and MJ felt her heart sink. He couldn't be dead, could he? He only had a broken nose and a few broken ribs after all… but what if a rib pierced his lung and he couldn't breathe and then-

"Mr. Parker was only admitted twenty minutes ago, dear. He's still being treated." The nurse said softly. "Now, let's get you cleaned up."

MJ didn't say a word as the nurse led her to a room to be treated, she didn't resist as the dirt was cleaned out of the gash in her cheek, and she didn't even wince as the nurse applied the stinging antiseptic solution.

**End of Part 15**

**There. Hope you like the cliffhanger. evil grin Please tell me if you found it boring or stupid, I still can't write fight scenes so I'm very sorry if this chapter was awful. I actually wrote the last chapter before I wrote this one because I got so stuck, but I think I'll rewrite it and post it on Christmas eve as a present to you all! :D Betcha didn't know I was santa, did you? ;)**

**READ THIS and answer it: Do you think that chapter should be rated higher than PG? I think it'll slide but I want to be sure...**

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**AA Battery: Thanks!**

**Twin-ey-boo-boo: Yay, thank you! Well, you got your wish, everyone knows! :D No I don't know any good Spidey fanfic sites besides this one I'm afraid- this is about the best one out there!**

**Spyder616: Thanks, and I don't like school either. I mean, who does? :P**

**PureEvilOne: Ohhhh, I thought Harry became the Hobgoblin or something... oh well. Thanks for the review and increasing my (limited) knowledge of the comics! :D**

**LordLanceahlot: That's nice to hear and thanks!**

**DiabloDude1: That's ok, whenever you have chance to send it though please do! I can't wait! :) Thanks and I hope Chaos wasn't too cheesy in this chapter...**

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: Lol, 15 is halfway to 30! Noooooo! ;) Thanks for reviewing!**

**Jolly Jeff: Thanks, I do feel good inside but I hope this chapter wasn't boring... eek...**

**Mark C: Consider Chaos taken care of. But what about poor Peter? ;) Thanks for the review!**

**Jenn: Don't eat too many cookies! ;) Yeah my dad got his car back thanks, but it was pretty much wrecked. Oh well he's got a new one now! :)**

**Lost: Wow... you reviewed! Thanks! :P**

**betty brant: Thanks so much! Literally a second after I published this chapter your review appeared, so I just went back to add this. It really is great to recieve praise from an author I admire and I really like your story as well, I thought the lastest chapter would include MJ finding out Peter is Spider-man but nevermind, I'll just have to eagerly await the next update! In fact, I'm off to review it now...**

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**Thanks very much to everyone who reviewed, please do so again! It'll make me very happy! :)**


	16. Epilogue

**Heya! This is the very last chapter, and I re-wrote it FIVE times before deciding on this version. Happy Christmas! ( And I _did _say I was going to post this on christmas eve, but I guess some people didn't bother to read the authors note, so had to suffer through a week of unknowingness. ;) )**

**Thanks so much for all the reviews although apparently I'm going to be attacked by Doc Ock's tentacles, Peter _and_ Mary Jane Watson-Parker! Better go hide...**

**Surprise, Surprise!**

**Part 16**

MJ giggled as Peter swung her round in his arms, not caring that her hair was falling out of its elegant bun she'd spent hours trying to fix with hairspray in front of the mirror. She was having too much fun.

It was six months after Chaos had died, and six hours after MJ had given the best performance of her life in her premiere presentation of 'Pride and Prejudice.'

There'd been mixed reactions; for both the revealing of Spider-man's identity and MJ's play, that was for sure. Aunt May had rushed into the hospital room and nearly broken Peter's ribs all over again with the force of her hug, whilst Jameson, Peter had heard say, was less than pleased with the complimentary article published by Robbie and written by Betty the next morning in the Daily Bugle. Peter allowed himself a small grin, imagining the look on his former boss's face.

Whereas the New York Times had been positive and considerably impressed with MJ's play, the Sunday Telegraph had been overly-critical of her performance and at some points scathing. When Peter had asked MJ why she was smiling so much after she'd read both articles, she'd happily replied, "It's good that it's controversial. Means I've hit a nerve, therefore, more publicity." Peter had just shook his head, amazed at the way women's minds worked.

Everyone in the audience for the first performance, however, seemed to have loved it, and now MJ felt like she was on the top of the world. Her gorgeous boyfriend was holding her, her play had been a hit with the guests and now she was having the time of her life with her friends at the after party.

"Hey gorgeous."

"Yeah?" MJ replied instantly.

"You were great. And you look amazing." Peter told her softly. She had finally decided on the midnight blue dress which flowed down to the floor. Her emerald eyes and bronze locks contrasted with it perfectly. She couldn't help but blush lightly at the compliment, and for a second she had to stop and marvel at the way only Peter Parker could make her feel light headed with a single comment, and yet at all the praise rained on her from friends and strangers; she didn't bat an eyelid.

"You don't look too bad yourself, Mr. Darcy." She replied, pretending she was the heroine of the play Lizzy for a second. He had gone all out by renting a tux, actually _buying_ a blue bowtie, which happened to match her dress perfectly, and whenever MJ got near enough to smell the faint and musky scent of his new cologne, she felt like swooning.

"That's alright then. Can't have the leading lady walk in with someone who looks like they've been dragged through a hedge and several other unpleasant things backwards, can we now?" Peter teased. She simply grinned at him.

At that moment, the lively song they'd been dancing to drew to a close on a few sharp notes, and by mutual consent they moved off to a quiet corner of the dance floor, both a little flushed and breathless.

MJ sighed contentedly and leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes peacefully as they swayed slowly to the calm music.

_Flashing lights suddenly hit her retinas, light so bright she could see the indistinct shapes of people even through her closed eyelids. The noise kicked up a notch to a dim roar, and the outlines of the shapes became fuzzy for a second before turning crystal clear._

_Bodies were pressing in on her, suffocating her, and all the while there was the rhythmic click and flash of cameras going off. She moved without her brain telling her to, turning back round in distress to find Peter lying on the dance floor, his eyes closed and blood streaming from his nose to soak into his crisp white tux… except that the patterned dance floor had just turned to mud speckled with chips of granite, and the blood was instead soaking into the bright red of his Spider-man costume, staining it to a much deeper shade of crimson._

"_No," She whispered, "No, no no no no…"_

_Sirens began to wail in the distance, the reporters and public alike clamoured to get closer for a better look at the true face of their hero, and suddenly MJ couldn't take any more._

"No!"

Her eyes snapped open and she jerked back from a rather confused Peter, who was suddenly upright and very much awake, his pure white tux free of bloodstains. She shook her head, trying to clear it, her eyes filling with tears.

"MJ?" Peter said gently. Her eyes darted to his face as the rest of the room swam into focus. The quiet music of the orchestra drowned out the frantic sound of people screaming, and the soft lights overhead replaced the harsh white light of cameras taking pictures. "MJ, what's wrong?"

Peter stumbled as MJ threw herself at him and hugged him tightly around the middle, burying her head in his chest. He waited patiently until she'd regained her composure and just held her, rocking gently from side to side in time with the music. Eventually she had to come up for air. She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with the back of her hand, but refused stubbornly to let the tears fall.

"I'm sorry, tiger," she whispered, nasal. "I just… I just remembered, saw… what happened… and…" She sniffed loudly again. "I'm sorry I've gone and spoiled the evening." She finished sadly, looking down at the floor, which had returned to its normal woodwork swirls.

"Hey," he put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to look her in the eyes. "All I care about is you. Not dressing up and posing and having to listen to Mr. What's-His-Name over there-" he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "-rant about the history of the roles of prominent fictional female characters for five hours."

Peter smiled as she giggled a little, hiccoughing at the same time. "Now, do you want to get of here and you can tell me what's wrong?" He offered, though he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew what was troubling her.

"No," She shook her head firmly. "No, it's ok, I'll be fine."

Peter looked at her for a few seconds doubtfully. "Well… if you're sure…?"

"I'm sure." She said confidently, and smiled brightly at him, a little too brightly.

"Ok, MJ." Peter caved, and wrapped her in a hug. For a while they just swayed to the music and listened to each other breathing, content in their embrace.

MJ suddenly perked up as her favourite song started playing, but restrained herself from jumping up and dragging her boyfriend into the spotlight as she would normally do, waiting to see if Peter would remember. She wasn't disappointed.

"Aha. Shall we proceed to the main dance floor, madam?" He asked and she beamed with delight. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." They moved from the outskirts of the dance floor where'd they'd been gently rocking back and forth, to the very middle, right in front of the live orchestra where the music was loudest and the dancing was liveliest.

MJ smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "I didn't know you could dance."

"I didn't know I could either." Peter admitted. At that moment his concentration lapsed and he trod on her foot.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry!"

Aunt May didn't seem to be having so much of a problem doing a quickstep with Dr. Connors. Peter gaped as he waltzed past with MJ and saw his Aunt's feet moving so fast they were almost blurred.

"I didn't know she could dance." He commented to MJ.

She shrugged. "You can learn a lot about someone from the way they dance."

"Really?" Peter asked, surprised. "You mean like palm reading but different?"

"Sure," MJ replied, grinning. "I guess you could call it that. For example: Betty and Robbie over there-"

"What about them?" He interrupted, craning his head round to see.

"Shut up and I'll tell you." She swatted him. He quickly fell silent, a laughing glint still in his eye that MJ didn't notice. "The way she puts her arms around his neck like that shows that she fancies him-"

"She _does_?!" Peter exclaimed loudly, and quite a few heads turned. "I mean, she does?" He said much more quietly.

"Yep, and you see the way he just trod on both her feet?" MJ ignored his outburst.

"Yeah…" Peter said slowly, beginning to wonder if she was joking.

"That means he likes her too, but is totally clueless about her liking him." She finished with an air of mystery, trying very hard not to grin. Peter looked at her for a minute.

"You serious?" He finally asked.

"Completely!" She said, trying to sound offended that he'd distrust her judgement. When he twisted round to look at them again, she grinned mischievously.

"So anyway," she said, getting his attention. "You want to hear about what the way we dance tells me?"

"Ok." He said gamely, focusing on the way he was holding her and wondering if he was doing it right.

"Well, the way I dance with you shows that I love you very much, and the way you're dancing with me shows that you love me _quite_ a bit too, and the way we're about to kiss in a couple of seconds-" she paused long enough to kiss him tenderly on the lips, "-tells me that we're going to be together for a very, _very_ long time." She smiled up at him and he grinned and kissed her again.

"Ahem." They broke apart at the interruption. Harry and one of MJ's friends were dancing a very complicated and fast-paced quickstep nearby, and Harry took the time to lean back and stage whisper to Peter, "Hey buddy, who's the beautiful stranger?"

Peter simply smiled and MJ giggled, saying, "Oh Harry, stop it, you're embarrassing me!"

Harry winked at her before moving off to continue dancing with Cassie, who he'd hooked up with a few weeks ago courtesy of MJ's matchmaking instincts.

"So stranger," Peter grinned and paused to suddenly dip MJ low to the ground, causing her to let out a little scream. "Want to get to know one another a little better?"

And with that he kissed her passionately, ignoring a few wolf whistles and cheers as everyone stopped to watch the superhero and his up-and-coming actress girlfriend kiss in the spotlight as the last song closed on a few lingering violin notes. She melted into his embrace like chocolate, and once the kiss was over, opened sparkling emerald eyes full of love to look into his crystal clear blue ones and whisper:

"Oh definitely."

**Fin**

**I feel both happy and sad at the same time. Weird, huh? :( :) Well, I'll post a new fluffy christmassy fic tomorrow morning!**

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**Spyder616: Thanks and you got your wish!**

**Twin-ey-Lazy girl: aka Twin-ey-boo-boo, right? ;) Well, there was a little friendship with Harry, will that do? I have an idea for a story that might pass as a sequel but I'll have to see...**

**Lordlanceahlot: Thanks, I'm glad you liked the fight scene. I thought it sucked.**

**Jenn: Ok, I'll leave the rating as it is, and, Peter is very unlucky, I guess. It turned out alright though.**

**AA Battery: Whoa, you're scary when you're mad. Thanks for the enthusiastic review... um... (hides)**

**Mary Jane Watson-Parker: Thanks and... (hides again)**

**Mark C: Yup, everyone saw him without his mask. Thanks!**

**closetfan: Yay, thanks! I did write a fight scene as practise before I wrote chapter 15, perhaps that helped.**

**deppfreak: Yeh, I like that, and yes! I managed to pull off the suspense!**

**Emily M. Hanson: Thanks, I'm starting to like it better myself!**

**betty brant: Thanks, that's a huge compliment! I feel much better about the fight scene now. I put a little flashback in this chapter too at the last minute because once I'd read it I realised it wasn't clear enough that everyone knew who Peter is.**

**diggerthedirtyhorse: Thanks and that is weird!**

**Scary Vampiress: Yes, I'm evil leaving it on a cliffhanger! So here's the last chapetr before I'm attacked by Peter... wait a minute, he's in my story so that means _I _control him! Mwahahahaha!**

**Moonjava: Thanks for reviewing, and yes, I do have a few more ideas for fics after this. :)**

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_**Thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed, without your encouragement I probably would have given up on this story long ago. And I'd really, really appreciate it if you'd review again, constructive criticism on this last chapter or the story as a whole would be nice, but just a comment to let me know you've read it would be great, thanks. Merry Christmas!**_


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